Karen Kilimnik has been a singular and expansive force in contemporary art for more than four decades. From dioramas to mise-en-scène, painted portraits and landscapes, to video, Kilimnik has constructed an immersive and interconnected world, a vision that offers us passage into the environs of our shared cultural fantasies. Her constellation of titles and her rich visual vocabulary reveal a body of work that is both personal and conceptual. Kilimnik’s works of this period seem to confer her complex perspective on the notion of public image, moving between the grandeur of European history and iconography of the contemporary day.

The exhibition will feature rarely seen works including the single-channel video Heathers (1992–93), as well as paintings such as Mary Calling up a Storm (1996), featured in the artist’s F::I exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Reflecting Kilimnik’s pioneering role in constructing environments and sculptures in dialogue with her paintings, works such as Eau de Joy (2005) an artificial bird’s nest incorporating audio and olfactory elements, underscore the breadth and innovation of her practice.

About Karen Kilimnik:

Karen Kilimnik (b.78GG, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) studied architecture at Temple University, Philadelphia. Kilimnik’s work has been included in major exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and Carnegie Museum of Art, among others. Her works are held in leading institutional collections across the U.S. including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Whitney Museum of American Art, among others; and international collections including Fondazione Prada, Fondazione Di Vignola, and Statens Museum for Kunst.