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KAREN SALICATH JAMALI

        Lives and works in Soho, New York, NY, USA
        www.kjamali.com  |  www.jamalinycgallery.com




                                                                 Humanity is the crux of the matter in the works of Karen Salicath. And its
                                                                 destiny. The basic sense of being. Given that this is hardly a unique subject
                                                                 among artists, one may ask what then makes her stand out among her peers.
                                                                 What immediately striking is that she’s not afraid. Of being out of fashion. Of
                                                                 letting her works carry a sense of pathos. In them are a certain mood and
                                                                 an idiom not unlike that conveyed by memorial monuments. Anonymous in
                                                                 a way well suited for universal messages.
                                                                 The sculptures of Karen Salicath are silent and grave. Her human figures
                                                                 are often hunched; perhaps in prayer or meditation; or apprehension and
                                                                 bewilderedness. Many seem weighed down. Their silent faces bowed to
                                                                 the ground. Only reluctantly and with effort can some of them raise their
                                                                 head, and then it seems as if they are gazing towards an altar in subdued
                                                                 anticipation.
                                                                 Even when the figures are paired life isn’t easy. Embraces firsthand points to
                                                                 a profound togetherness and one is reminded of Plato’s concept of man and
                                                                 woman as originally one being, on a perpetual quest for reunification ever
                                                                 since separation. But alas, as the sexes unite the fusion appears suffocating
                                                                 and one gets the distinct impression that love has no part of it.
                                                                 There are those of her figures that seem so weighed down, so devoid of
                                                                 hope, so as to suggest a society so stony, that its members have completely
                                                                 surrendered personhood and have descended into one massive barren
                                                                 architectural structure. And then again; there is yet hope in the works of
                                                                 Karen Salicath.
                                                                 As the rock tumbles down the mountain, Sisyphus proceeds to drive it back
                                                                 up. Gabriel weeps in one of the figures, and although one should be careful
                                                                 in applying a Christian existential interpretation to Karens work, the angel
                                                                 is there. There is a way out of the shadows, there is yet light in the world
                                                                 and that message is ever-present as well.
                                                                                             The Lasting Angel by Torben Weirup,
                                                                                                    Danish Art Critic and Editor


                                                                 The mythology is the true protagonist of Karen Salicath Jamali’s art. An art
                                                                 capable of dealing with different representative realities: Angels, unicorns,
                                                                 horses, men and women. Karen, adopts a language that starts from
                                                                 figuration to arrive at abstract painting. In the works that represents the
                                                                 abstract art, the artist expresses with quick brushstrokes, the fruit of an
                                                                 impetuous creativity. The nuances follow fast, as equipped with a propulsive
                                                                 energy that expands beyond the limits of the painted surface. The shades
                                                                 are entwined in a continuous dialog, seemingly chaotic, in reality, well
                                                                 premeditated, that develop under the eye of the observer. Her figures, on
       
          WAITING IN WATER, BRONZE AND GLASS 15.7X15.7X23.6 IN. | 40X40X60 CM.  the other hand, seem to live in a space other than the known space. They
                     TWO HORSES II, 2010 FRESCO TEMPERA 57X79 IN. | 144.8X200.7 CM.     are placed in a new dimension  no longer affected by  spatial and temporal

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