Karen Zalamea ~ Artist Reference Site



Selected Work		[Allow pop-ups]

	Pierre/Paysage inkjet prints 16" x 20" 2009-2010	The images began as a response to Katherine Lapierre's architectural and sculptural maquettes entitled Folies. Lapierre's paper stone stemmed from a mapping project of Montréal's Parc LaFontaine where she opted to focus on a single stone as a conceptual representation of the park as a whole. My attempt to reconstruct the model of over one hundred individual pieces resulted in a rugged landscape, drawing connections between our depictions of terrain. images >
	WORK WORK WORK 2009	Through photography and sculpture, WORK WORK WORK focuses on the body as a tool for production via repetitive and restrictive processes. Self-Portrait with Plaster I - IV c-prints, 45" x 30" Studies in Semblance plaster, variable dimensions Traces c-print, 21" x 14" images >
	Self Geste single-channel video 6 min 05 sec b&w, stereo sound 2009	Self Geste performs the reproduction of gestures applied to the body, demonstrating a desire towards a mastery of the working body itself. This video emphasizes a shift from an outward projection of effort to an internalized experience of work. video stills > video excerpts >
	Pump single-channel video 3 min 25 sec colour, stereo sound 2009	Pump is a time-compressed presentation of a rubber ball's inflation. The performed action creates visual and audible rhythms, while the object's enlargement gradually supplants the body of its producer. video stills > video excerpts >
	Holepunch single-channel video 5 min 10 sec colour, stereo sound 2009	The video continues my exploration of the mechanized body through the obsessive and repetitive action of hole punching. With the irregular movement of the falling paper, the piece steers away from precise choreography, pairing mechanical gesture with indeterminate results. video stills > video excerpts >
	Stereo Efficiency Cheer single-channel video 5 min 49 sec colour, stereo sound 2008	Stereo Efficiency Cheer presents the artist performing the role of a deadpan cheerleader and reciting an original rhymed cheer entitled “Be Efficient!”. The cheer champions productivity and maximized output, in reference to early twentieth century motion studies and industrial management. video stills > video excerpts > images >
	Exercises in Napery single-channel video 5 min 40 sec colour, stereo sound 2007	Exercises in Napery focuses on napkin folding as a disciplined and repetitive task. Divided into three parts, the video begins with a fast-paced instructional video, followed by a task-based performance, and concludes with a stop-motion animation. Through humour and rigour, theatricality and militarism, absurdity and irony, the video examines the economy of labour practices associated with domesticity and the service industry. video stills > video excerpt >
	Trait c-prints 25" x 40" 2006/2009	The photographic series Trait studies the grammar of the horizon line through temporal yarn forms drawn in space by the extension of the hands and arms. The traditional perspectival use of the horizon line, in addition to other colour compositions, suggests landscapes drawn flat in relation to the body. images >
	A Series of Slow Processions installation 2007	The installation presents a sculpture of stainless steel wire and cotton, set against a video projection of the weaving process on a computerized Jacquard loom. A Series of Slow Processions engages with gendered labour through performative production, with the intersections of surface, structure, and duration, and with the embodiment of process in an object. images > video >
	Gesture, Utterance, Quixote single-channel video 2 min 30 sec colour, stereo sound 2008	Gesture, Utterance, Quixote is a composition that explores the expressive quality of hand gestures, detached from verbal communication. A pair of hands takes the spotlight and performs to a musical excerpt from Ludwig Minkus' ballet score, Don Quixote. video stills > video >
	Print inkjet prints on archival photorag 18" x 18" 2008	The flatbed scans of printmaking tools was a project I started while on residency at the Sagamie National Centre for Digital Art. The centre’s printmaking equipment had been stored in a basement as their production is now completely digitally-based. In an effort to understand the historical process, I decided to formally work with these tools, creating “impressions” through scanning and printing on photorag. Each item is isolated by a black background, foregrounding the tools as sacralized relics. I am interested in how these objects, in relation to my other bodies of work, articulate the hand-made, ritualized gesture, and manual labour. images >

© Karen Zalamea 2003-2010 < top