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Email PageAdventures in the land of Karkata
May 27, 2008- June 21, 2008
Reception: May 29, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm
Leslie Kneisel
A.I.R. Gallery
511 W 25th StA.I.R. Gallery is pleased to announce Leslie Kneisel’s solo exhibition of drawings and soft sculptures, Adventures in Karkata Land. The exhibition will be on view from May 27 – June 21, 2008, with an opening reception on Thursday, May 29th from 6pm to 8pm.
“Adventures in Karkata Land” is part allegory, part Marvel-era comic book, part diary, with a little sexual fantasy thrown in for good measure. Working in the manner of the picaresque novel, Kneisel takes her personal history and life in the South as source material. Casting herself as one in a cast of characters in the chronicle, the artist doubles as the intrepid heroine traveling through an increasingly alien landscape. Will she/we overcome all obstacles? With her unique brand of laugh in the face of death-style humor Kneisel challenges traditional assumptions about sex, gender, age and even death itself. Here, we are reminded not to take ourselves too seriously no matter how dire the circumstances.
Seven works on paper and four pieces of stitchery are included in this exhibition. Trained as a printmaker, Kneisel begins each non-sequential “page” of her comic story with a Xerox lithography process. She then works further on the piece with pen, marker, acrylic, watercolor and homemade superhero stickers. The stitched, three dimensional, cushion like works share imagery with the paper pieces and add whimsy with their overstuffed forms and delicate, colorful lines.
As in much of Kneisel’s earlier work these “adventures” also concern women’s issues and looking at how gender relationships function through dysfunction. The embroidered pieces in “Adventures in Karkata Land” follow from previous embroidered works on fabric that are upholstered like something from the Edwardian era: each beautiful, funny, and perverse. Cartoons meet porn. Science fiction meets Rabelais. Also consistent is Kneisel’s shifting or morphing of space and subject. The artist writes: “I use hybridization to create a world of morphing imagery that suggests an absence of permanence, where nothing is stable but constantly shifting … I do live in the South where certain things are still taboo, and what is more enticing than that which is private, taboo and forbidden. The work is meant to remind us of issues that are unpopular or unspeakable in our current culture and the desire for sanctuary. In today’s sociopolitical turmoil it is not surprising that some artists should turn to the fantastical.”
Leslie Kneisel received her Masters of Fine Arts in printmaking from Georgia State University and taught as adjunct professor at Ga. State University, Agnes Scott College, and the Atlanta College of Art. Her work is in numerous collections throughout the United States. She is represented by Jancar Gallery in Los Angeles, CA.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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A.I.R. Gallery was last updated: 2008-10-10
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