Karen Margolis
Karen Margolis
Workspace Program Resident 2000
I explore change as both a process and emotional necessity, connecting the influences of physical transformations upon thoughts and feelings. My work articulates what is undefined, that of beginnings and endings, disintegration and accumulations, aging and regeneration.—Karen Margolis, 2001
Karen Margolis produces work that relies on pinpoint accuracy and arduous, disciplinary methods. The density and complexity of her work takes shape once the content is revealed, described by the artist as “the behavior of neurotransmitters as they interact with synthetic and organic chemicals.” Often cropped at the paper’s edge, her choice to enhance the fleeting feeling of each form is not unrelated to the emotional patterns she depicts.
Margolis describes her cloud-like, suspended sculptural installation M-Theory as a “three-dimensional mandala of the human condition”. Influenced by the concepts of samsara (eternal cycle of life and death) and karma (fate and destiny), Margolis’ work was fabricated from linen and abaca paper laminated over cotton-covered wire. The translucent surface of abaca creates a fluidity that accelerates the movement of these transient forms. The network of paper with burnt edges and metal threads speaks about destruction, fragility, interconnection, mortality, and regeneration.
About the Artist
Karen Margolis, after receiving her BS in Psychology from Colorado State University, continued her research in Neural Psychology while studying portraiture at the Art Student's League in New York City. She furthered her studies in art at Parsons School of Design and the School of Visual Arts. During a Microscopy course at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, through the New York Microscopical Society, Margolis was inspired to diverge from her investigations of figurative art in order to create work exploring universality of macro/micro patterns.
Margolis' work is exhibited internationally. She created a public art installation for the Art on Paper Fair in New York City, March 2020. Currently her work is included in the "Cut up/Cut out" exhibition, traveling to museums throughout the country from 2016 through 2020. Recent solo exhibitions include Foley Gallery, New York City, K. Imperial Fine Arts, San Francisco and Garis and Hahn in Los Angeles. In 2018, Margolis completed a public art commission of mosaic panels for the MTA Arts in Transit at the 86 Street subway station, N Line in Brooklyn, NY. Margolis' work has been exhibited in the Paper Biennial at the Rijswijk Museum in the Netherlands, Salon Zurcher, Paris, France and in collaboration with M Missoni, New York City, through Garis & Hahn Gallery. Prior exhibitions include Bridgewater University in Massachusetts, Rockland Center for the Arts, The Hunterdon Art Museum, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, The Parrish Art Museum, the Fine Arts Center of the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, Weatherspoon Art Museum and The Delaware Center for Contemporary Art.
Margolis has received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 1998 and in 2000 designed a critically acclaimed set design for an Off-Broadway play. Margolis was instrumental in creating the Dr. Seuss exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan, and in 2004, she conceived and implemented a program to teach art to blind and visually impaired teenagers at The Lighthouse International. In 2015, she worked as a consultant for Art Beyond Sight, and in coordinating with the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, Margolis organized and implemented special events for the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. (Source: Artist’s website)
For more information, please visit their website: http://karenmargolisart.com/ or their personal blog here.
Related Writing & Works
Dieu Donné, PULP, Issue 49, Spring 2006.