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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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