Bad Thing

Lying on her side on the floor she stared at a cup. She thought about what had happened, and how it existed in the world now like an unchangeable and definite solid.

To begin with there had been no words, only the staring and a feeling that what had happened actually was the cup. By looking at it she got to know it. The cup could not be ignored or denied because there it was.

She eventually realised that if the bad thing that had happened had edges and could be looked at, then it must be separate from her and she must, therefore, be able to get away from it. She kept lying there looking, not used to it enough yet to leave it.

(Karla Black, Tollcross 111, Ed. Neil Bickerton, Neil Mulholland, Glasgow 2005)

Forthcoming exhibitions for 2007: Solo presentation, Open Space, Art Cologne (with Mary Mary), April; Poor Thing, Kunsthalle Basel, June; Group Show, Modern Art, London, November; Solo Show, Ibid Projects, London, October.

Karla Black's recent exhibitions include: Untitled (Works On Paper), Art: Concept, Paris, 2007; Planting The Tele, Mary Mary, Glasgow, 2006; Solo Show, Galerie Sandra Buergel, Berlin, 2006; Have Him Be Her (Solo), Broadway 1602, New York, 2006; Solo Show, Outpost, Norwich, 2006; Solo Show, Mary Mary, Glasgow, 2006; Karla Black, Sally Osborn, Sue Tompkins, Flaca, London, 2006; Like It Matters, CCA, Glasgow, 2005; EXILE: New York Is A Good Hotel, Broadway 1602, New York, 2005; Not Yet Night, Studio Voltaire, London, 2005; Karla Black/Babak Ghazi. S1 Artspace, Sheffield, 2005; Rheinschau. Art Cologne Projects, Cologne, with Transmission Gallery, 2004; Karla Black, Mary Mary, Glasgow, 2004; Spacemakers. Lothringer Dreizehn, Munich, 2004; Cheyney Thompson and Karla Black, Transmission Gallery, Glasgow, 2004; Synth. Kunstraum B/2, Leipzig, Germany, 2004; Pallas, The Changing Room, Stirling, 2003; EAST International (selected by Toby Webster and Eva Rothschild), Norwich Gallery, Norwich, 2003 and An American Conversation, Cooper Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Dundee, 2003.

She is represented by Mary Mary Gallery, Glasgow.