Kathy Taslitz: Just Visiting
Reception & Studio Opening
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
6PM-10PM

3499 E. 15th Street
Los Angeles CA 90023
Valet Parking

preview by appointment
tel 323-264-3500

Having been raised around the monumental sculptures of Chicago, and drawing her inspiration directly both from nature and technology, Kathy Taslitz’s work is highly complex. The work she creates ranges in scope from an 11 foot tall sculptural monument at the College of Santa Fe’s Performing Art Center, to gleaming and evocative stainless steel conceptual works, to her newest series that resembles huge seashells. By sensitively examining the diametrically opposed yet essentially related configurations of natural elements and 21st century culture, she creates seductive juxtapositions of form and idea.

Her 2013 series of sensual forms entitled “Just Visiting” gracefully reflects the symbiosis between nature and humanity, asking existential questions about how the two coexist. This series melds grand sculptures of seashells with elaborate technical components, with each work representing one of the five senses.

While creating her sculptures, there exists a profusion of research, trial and error, and ultimate resolution. By investigating a wide variety of media, Taslitz surmounts her challenges and finds the right modalities to produce her works. The embedding of additional dimensions (sound, lighting, computer-aided technology, and video) into her polished and sensual objects invokes a quiet sense of power. A power that isn’t self-referential, rather it draws upon both the primordial and the mechanical to remind the viewer of the universe’s cyclic existence. Using cogent amalgams of compliments and opposites, her works create subtle relationships between shells and humans, the technological and the organic, and the gentle way fragility has the capacity to overpower strength.

Articles about the artist have appeared in Architectural Digest, the Los Angeles Times, Vogue Living, the Robb Report, Huffington Post, Interior Design Magazine, and Luxe Home. Taslitz’s work has been shown at Wright auction house; Art Basel Miami Beach with Richard Gray Gallery; Gerald Peters Gallery, Sante Fe, New Mexico; Art Crush/Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Colorado; Galerie Maxmillan, Aspen, Colorado. Tastlitz lives and works in Chicago and Los Angeles.

Exposed Monumental Sculpture to be Unveiled at College of Santa Fe 

What Lies In Between Gallery Exhibition

Exposed Stainless Steel, Transforming and Exposed Bronze at Gerald Peters Gallery

 On April 22 at 2pm an 11-foot tall, 5-ft wide blackened bronze monumental sculpture entitled Exposed will be unveiled at the College of Santa Fe in Santa Fe, NM.  The sculpture, by artist Kathy Taslitz, is in the figure of a leaf – an iconic expression of nature and the life cycle that Taslitz uses repeatedly in her work.  The human female form emerges out of the leaf, exposed to its surroundings, perforated to exhibit the strength developed through vulnerability.  It is the first of a planned series of four sculptures What Lies in Between.

“We are honored to have such an important piece of artwork available to the campus community and for the City of Santa Fe to enjoy,” said college president, Larry Hinz.  “Kathy Taslitz’s Exposed is about self-discovery and rebirth, and what an appropriate symbol for the College of Santa Fe as we enthusiastically pursue the next chapter in our 151-year history.”

The monumental sculpture was commissioned by a private collector who saw the maquette at Galerie Maximillian in Aspen (galeriemax.com).  Choosing to remain anonymous, he thought its organic shape would relate perfectly to the natural beauty of Santa Fe.

“Santa Fe is a significant place in the art world and it has such natural beauty that it’s a great fit for my work,” said artist Kathy Taslitz.  “I am constantly inspired by the natural world and I love that the city of Santa Fe celebrates, protects and incorporates the landscape into their modern life.”

Following the unveiling on April 22 at 5:30 p.m. there will be exhibition at the Gerald Peters Gallery and premiere of Taslitz’s newest work, Transforming, 2010.  Transforming curves and curls to suggest a leaf, a persistent image in Taslitz’s work, but now the stripped-down skeletal core of a human self is just as evident. Hard metal turns and ends to reveal shapes within a spiraling form, recalling cells and the genetic code in nature’s exemplary structure of connection and meaning, yet also creating open, airy regions unconstrained by pattern or method.  The 42-inch sculpture in bronze with a black patina is the second in the series What Lies In Between, and like Exposed, will be produced in bronze with black patina or stainless steel.  The exhibition featuring 14 of Taslitz’s works will continue through May 20.

Taslitz’s work is rooted in understanding how people actually live and interact in the natural and urban worlds.  “I wanted to make artwork to truly address what it means to live and change and grow as an individual, as well as works that directly involve themselves in people’s lives.”  The Chicago-based artist is also an award-winning designer and serves on the Architecture and Design Society Board of the Art Institute of Chicago and Board of Trustees of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The College of Santa Fe is a 151-year-old creative arts-based college located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Programs at the college combine practical experience with core theory, empowering students to develop thorough an understanding of their professional aspirations in creative writing, theater, art, graphic design, moving image arts (film making), photography, business, and education.

The city of Santa Fe is a hotbed of artistic expression. Thousands of professional artists live here and show their work in the city’s 300 galleries. Santa Fe has one of the largest art markets in the United States and internationally renowned artists and writers make frequent guest appearances on campus and in the community.

 ASPEN’S GALERIE MAXIMILLIAN HOSTS THE ASPEN ART MUSEUM’S FREESTYLE PREVIEW EVENT

Identity mirror at Aspen Art Museum's Freestyle

A private preview exhibition and reception for the Aspen Art Museum’s winter fundraiser Freestyle will be held at Galerie Maximillian. The galerie is featuring a Portrait Exhibition with a special collection of work by artist Kathy Taslitz. The exhibition is entitled Let’s Face It: 27 Modern and Contemporary Portraits with original works by Lincoln Schatz, Richard Dupont, Kathy Taslitz, Chuck Close, Ryan McGinniss, Damien Hirst, Picasso, Miro, Matisse, Dubuffet and others. As part of this show, Taslitz’s Identity mirror will be exhibited alongside her sculptural furniture collection including functional design in limited editions.

In addition to being a part of the galerie’s preview exhibition, Kathy Taslitz is unveiling a new, purely sculptural work titled Exposed, Maquette. Exposed reflects the confrontation of raw reality and diverse life experience. The figure of the leaf–an iconic expression of nature and the life cycle that Taslitz uses repeatedly in her work–suggests not only its ability to soar independently but also its ultimate return to the earth. A human figure emerges out of the leaf, open to its surroundings, fluid, and vulnerable. The undulating surface has been intricately perforated, yielding open spaces of different sizes and shapes, connected but disparate.

A crane helps lower a sculpture into place early Wednesday at the courtyard near Aspen’s Gallerie Maximillian. Chicago artist Kathy Taslitz created the piece, titled “Exposed,” which resembles an aspen leaf from the front and back, and, she said, a female silhouette from the sides. The bronze leaf weighs 800 pounds and the base weighs two tons. The gallery is exhibiting other works by Taslitz, as well; the first-edition sculpture will eventually be placed outside the performing arts center at the College of Santa Fe, but five others just like it are available.