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Victory
Wood, tar, aluminum mesh, and mixed media
90"H x 60"w x 38"D
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Slouching
Wood, tar, aluminum mesh, and mixed media
30 H x 33 W x 113" L
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Cynthia
Karasek
Cynthia
Karasek received a BFA from Cornell University before moving
to New York City to participate in the Whitney Museum Independent
Study Program. As a Whitney fellow, Karasek was introduced
to the most forward thinking artists of the time and saw her
work hanging in the Whitney Museum of American Art when she
was only 21 years old.
Karasek
made New York City her home, exhibiting paintings in the first
galleries in the East Village. She earned a MA in Fine Arts
from Hunter College where she met Mark Tansey, Peter Haley,
Bob McBride, Karen Eubel, Gail Swithenback, Susan Bee and
many other artists and writers who supported each other and
shared ideas. From this extended group Karasek and Eubel formed
a small group of artists and founded PS122 ( Painting Space
122) in the East Village in 1978. As founders and first directors,
Karasek and Eubel, guided this fledgling arts organization
into a major force in the alternative art scene in New York.
By 1980, the organization included a studio program, an alternative
gallery, and a performance/dance space which became Performance
Space 122. Now well established as a model for artist run
organizations, Karasek continues to work on the growth and
development of this interesting program.
Karasek
has exhibited in one person and group exhibitions in New York,
Europe, Canada, and cities through out the United States.
Since 1987 she has focussed on making sculpture which has
been exhibited in local, national, and international sculpture
festivals as well as galleries, museums and permanent collections.
Karasek's sculpture has been represented by the PMW gallery
from the beginning. In 1988 PMW presented two early pieces,
"Yankee Spire" and "Dry Dock" in the sculpture garden adjoining
the gallery. "Dry Dock" is now permanently installed in the
sculpture garden.
Recent
sculptures are fabricated from parts of trees, tar, metal
screen, and galvanized objects, and are intended for indoor
exhibition. Karasek writes: "I have been working with branches
and parts of trees because of their complex curves and animated
shapes. I combine them with galvanized objects and metal screen
to make intricate and dynamic volumes. The meaning of the
work derives form the careful considerations of contradictory
references and forms to find relationships that are familiar
or humorous and beautiful."
Karasek
also produces drawings and watercolors of various sizes. The
largest drawings are wall hangings combining aluminum screen,
paint and heavy upholstery velvet. Up to 10 feet in height,
they function as abstract drawings and schematics for fanciful
sculptures that can only exist in the imagination of the viewer.
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