Piazza del Popolo, oil on cotton. 45 x 42 inches
March 1 – 17, 2012
Opening: Thursday, March 1, 6 – 8 p.m.
BAU-XI GALLERY
340 Dundas St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G5
T: 416.977.0600
E: toronto@bau-xi.com
www.bau-xiphoto.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5:30, Sun 11-5:30
Karen’s work centers on nature and our metaphorical relationship to it. As the Italian critic and curator Valerio Dehò has written, “The intelligence of Karen Yurkovich lies in her use of a language both noble and super-codified, cooling it with a strong and radical concept. In this pause…possibilities open up of a vision that goes beyond the subject and affirms a mature idea of painting as limit, as extreme trace, as human testimony first of all.”
The artist states, “An integral part of my artistic practice concerns the interaction between culture and nature. And while this subject has been dealt with in countless different ways, the relationship with nature is constantly evolving and continues to be one of the fundamental points where culture, both political and material, is defined. My work has a scientific cast to it in its exploration of categories and modes of representation. It is not driven by any particular style but by the specific concept I am researching.”
Karen Yurkovich has a BFA and MFA from the University of Alberta and has spent the last several years dividing her time between Canada and Italy.
She has shown extensively in Canada, the US and Europe, and her interests in Italy have led her to develop joint projects with a biodiversity group called Archeologia Arborea, with whom she appeared in an episode of Recreating Eden for Vision TV. Her work has appeared in numerous catalogues and is held in many private and public collections. She also teaches part-time at Studio Art Centers International in Florence.