Yashua Klos

Yashua Klos
Born	1977 (age 47–48) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Education	Northern Illinois University, Hunter College
Known for	printmaking
Website	yashuaklos.net

Yashua Klos (born 1977) is an American visual artist best known for his innovative large-scale collage works which address issues of identity, race, memory and community.[1]

Early life and education

Klos was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he grew up on Chicago's South Side and was raised by his single mother.[1] In 2000, he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Northern Illinois University.[2] Klos then studied abroad in France, where he investigated Renaissance painting techniques at L'Atelier Neo Medici in 2002. By 2009, he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at Hunter College.[3]

Art

Klos's work is influenced by his childhood growing up on Chicago's South Side. His work commonly explores themes surrounding African-American identity in contemporary society. Through his large-scale collages, Klos challenges notions of marginalization, masculinity, and urban mythology.[1] He paints portraits of people from Chicago's South Side, highlighting narratives of suppression, denial, and pain associated with the vulnerability experienced in black communities. There was a "stoicism" among the "black folks" Klos witnessed, an element he attempts to unpack by studying the behavioral nature of adapting and thriving. Overall, he challenges conventions often attached to the African-American man.

Klos is represented by Jack Tilton Gallery.[4]

Printmaking

In his earlier works, Klos was known for printing giant woodcuts on large stretches of muslin.[5] His interest in the technique grew out of the many African-American activists who employed it during the mid-20th century, such as Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, and Emily Douglas. By cutting and etching using a series of erratic, jagged marks, he imitates this "kinetic devotion to image-making" that grounds this element of humanity he desires to achieve.[6]

Collage

Klos's collages derive from his practice as a printmaker. Using a personalized approach, he creates swatches and samples of textures by hand-carving and inking woodblock prints to create a library of source material. By piecing and arranging a selection of patterns, they are layered on top of a pencil blueprint to create a complete portrait.[7] His ideas of memory and distortion are demonstrated by the manifestation of fractured impressions and angled perspectives.[8] Klos views collage as more than just a technique, but more a "metaphor for the fragmentation of African-American identity".[1]

Sculpture

Klos references earthly materials, physical mediums he views as strong yet vulnerable over the passage of time. He associates timelessness to ancient monuments, a concept he applies to his sculptures to communicate the "monumentality of a culture's identity and relationship to time". Often, he incorporates materials leftover from urban renewal, such as milk crates, bricks, and wooden beams. The use of these mediums suggest Klos' desire to construct an identity relevant to his background.[6]

Selected exhibitions

• 2018: Go Figure, The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus, OH[9]
• 2017: Everyday Anomaly, WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town, South Africa[9]
• 2017: Art on the Vine, presented by The Agora Culture, Edgartown, MA[9]
• 2017: Face to Face: Los Angeles Collects Portraiture, California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA[9]
• 2017: Give Us the Vote, ArtsWestchester, White Plains, NY[9]
• 2016: Black Pulp!, The International Print Center, New York, NY[9]
• 2016, September: Galerie Anne DeVillepoix, Blank Black, Paris, France[10]
• 2016, September: Papillon Art, Yashua Klos: How to Hide in the Wind, Los Angeles CA[11]
• 2015: To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, curated by Hank Willis Thomas, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa[9]
• 2015: Broken English, curated by Kim Stern, Tyburn Gallery, London, UK[9]
• 2015, September: Jack Tilton Gallery, As Below, So Above, New York, NY[12]
• 2014, February: Carnegie Mellon University, Draw 2014 Symposium, Pittsburgh, PA[13]
• 2014, November: Opa Locka ARC, In Plain Sight, Opa-Locka, FL[14]
• 2013, March: Jack Tilton Gallery, We Come Undone, New York, NY[15]
• 2012, October: Memphis College of Art, Singular Masses, Memphis, TN[16]
• 2012: Weatherspoon Museum, Art on Paper, Greensboro, NC[17]
• 2012, November: Studio Museum in Harlem, Fore, New York, NY[18]
• 2012: Dodge Gallery, Bigger Than Shadows, New York NY
• 2011, June: Kravetz Wehby, Paperwork, New York, NY[19]
• 2010, July: Scaramouche Gallery, Lush Life, New York, NY[20]
• 2010, September: Tilton Gallery, ELSE, New York, NY[21]
• 2010, October: Catskill Art Society, Utopia and Wallpaper, Livingston Manor, NY[13]
• 2009, January: Museum of Science and Industry, Black Creativity 09, Chicago, IL[13]
• 2009, June: Hunterdon Museum of Art, Up and Coming, Clinton, NJ[5]
• 2008, February: Rush Arts Gallery, Garveyism, New York, NY[13]
• 2008, August: Port Authority Bus Terminal, The Mt. Rushmore Drawings, New York NY[13]
• 2006, February: The Abrons Art Center, Inner Visions, New York, NY[13]
• 2006, September: Deitch Projects, Deitch Art Parade, New York, NY[13]

Klos is represented by Tilton Gallery (New York) and Galerie Anne de Villepoix (Paris).[22]

Awards and residencies

• NYFA Grant, 2015[23]
• Joan Mitchell Fellowship, 2014[24]
• The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 2005[13]
• Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts[13]
• The Vermont Studio Center[13]

Teaching

Yashua Klos teaches regularly at Hunter College and Parson's[22]

References

1. "Yashua Klos". Artspace. Phaidon Global. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
2. "Yashua Klos Biography" (PDF). Tilton Gallery. Jack Tilton Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
3. "Yashua Klos". ArtSlant. ArtSlant Inc. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
4. "Tilton Gallery | Yashua Klos". jacktiltongallery.com. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
5. Genocchio, Benjamin (21 August 2009). "By Invitation Only". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
6. "As Above, So Below". Newfound. Newfound. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
7. "Yashua Klos". Art on the Vine. Art on the Vine Foundation. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
8. Brock, Polly. "Stoicism and Survival: Interview with Yashua Klos". Art/ctualité. Art/ctualité. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
9. "Jack Tilton Gallery" (PDF).
10. "Yashua Klos: Blank Black". Anne de Villepoix. Galerie Anne de Villepoix. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
11. "How To Hide In The Wind - PAPILLION". www.papillionart.com. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
12. "Yashua Klos: As Below, So Above". Tilton Gallery. Jack Tilton Gallery. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
13. "Yashua Klos Resume". Yashua Klos. Yashua Klos. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
14. Nahmad, Valerie. "The Art of Transformation Series Celebrates the Revitalization of Opa-Locka". Knight Foundation. John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
15. "'Yashua Klos: We Come Undone' at Tilton Gallery". Observer. 2013-03-05. Retrieved 2019-01-18.
16. "Memphis College of Art Debuts Exhibition Exploring Racial Identity". Memphis College of Art. Tennessee Arts Foundation. 2013-01-15. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
17. "Art on Paper 2012: The 42nd Exhibition". Weatherspoon Art Museum. The University of North Carolina Greensboro. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
18. "Fore". Studio Museum. Studio Museum Harlem. 2017-09-12. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
19. "Kravets/Wehby Gallery Presents: "Paperwork"". Brooklyn Street Art. Brooklyn Street Art. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
20. "Lush Life". Scaramouche Gallery. Scaramouche NY. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
21. Cotter, Holland (2010-09-24). "Else". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
22. "A Conversation With Yashua Klos on Violence, Police, and Art". Blouin Artinfo. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
23. "Past Fellows". NYFA. New York Foundation for the Arts. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
24. "Yashua Klos". Joan Mitchell Foundation. Joan Mitchell Foundation. Retrieved 22 March 2018.

External links

• http://www.yashuaklos.net/