Karen Lofgren

Written By:
Karen Lofgren read by Laura Wright

Dates:
December 1, 2009 – January 15, 2010
Part of “Let There Be Light” 28 Light Based Art Installations throughout Downtown Long Beach illuminating the Darkest Days of the year.
On view 24/7 with optimal viewing 5 pm-1 am

Location:
342-340 E 3rd Street
Long Beach 90802

Artist Contact:
karen@c-level.cc

About Believer

Before I made Believer, I was poring over medieval bestiaries, fascinated by the characteristics they held—like spraying burning feces onto soldiers’ shields—and their often multinational origins. The unicorn struck me in particular because the popularly recognized horse form with a horn was so different than ancient descriptions of the animal, which were small and goat or fawn-like, with some ascribing the feet of an elephant to the unicorn, with the head of a steer. My curiosity drifted to reasons this myth endures so strongly in popular culture today, and whether I could represent this melancholic longing for origin, purity, or innocence in a sculpture; which lead me to the skeletal image you see. Of course I was also very curious to know if it was possible to physically make a glowing unicorn skeleton, and curious to find out how people would interpret the work.

Mythology states that only virgin maidens can capture unicorns. I researched this and discovered that alchemists were also said to be able to attract unicorns. I found modern magic incantations to capture unicorns, calling for white wine, candles, roots, and herbs; and alchemy recipes to do the same. The unifying factors in each approach was to use light and the concept of purity, so I made what could be perceived as a simple decoy of sorts, although one that doesn’t go so far as to trick the eye into thinking it’s real. Our ideas about the image in the end are strongly influenced by what we want to believe, and what we want to see.

About Dawn

The sculptural forms I make take on multiple ritualistic meanings fusing modern, corporate, rock aesthetics with mythological references throughout history. The work you see was influenced by each of these, combining the function of shop signage with alchemic symbols and modern sculptural form, melting at the base, possibly morphing into another form or sinking into the landscape.

Combined, these sculptures project a Dawn-type of light onto gallery walls, seen here in silhouette. When I made this work, I imagined the sculptures as the tips of icebergs and that each would have a subterranean root extending indefinitely below the surface. I wanted to show something hopeful in using the concept of shop signage, which is usually on the second story of a building, and sink it down to the floor. Forgetting commerce and products that might have been sold within a shop, the cryptic signage becomes an independent experience reflecting back on itself, fluctuating between desire and fantasy.



Karen Lofgren is at Toronto-born LA-based artist who completed her MFA at CalArts. Group exhibitions include High Desert Test Sites; Daniel Hug Gallery; LACMA; Slab at the Old LA Zoo; Anna Helwing Gallery; Black Dragon Society; FiveThirtyThree; Mihai Nicodim Gallery; The Craft and Folk Art Museum; and Circus Gallery. Solo shows include Believer at Machine Project; and Gold Flood at Pitzer Art Galleries, for which she also received a grant from the Durfee Foundation. Her work has recently been featured in artforum.com critic’s picks; LA Weekly; and in LA Times.

Other Online Images

http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/show/16589-karen-lofgren

articles (recent):

http://www.artforum.com/picks/id=23531&view=print
http://www.ieweekly.com/cms/story/detail/golden_rules/2537/

Karen Lofgren
Born 1976, Toronto

Education

2000 Master of Fine Art in Visual Art, Cal Arts, Valencia, CA
1998 Honors Diploma in Sculpture/Installation, OCAD, Toronto

Solo Exhibitions
2009 Gold Flood, Lenzner Family Galleries Emerging Artist Series #2, Pitzer College
2005 Believer, Machine Project, Los Angeles, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions

2009 Veronica, Nichols Gallery, Claremont Colleges, curated by Ciara Ennis
         Exquisite Corpse, Mihai Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles
2008 A Field Guide to LACMA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (curated by Machine Project) forming, storming, norming, performing,          Circus Gallery Project Space (organized by Bettina Hubby) Slab at the Old LA Zoo, Los Angeles (curated by slab and presented by          Art 2102) At the Middle of Nowhere, FiveThirtyThree, Los Angeles The Black Dragon Society, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles
2006 Street Signs and Solar Ovens: Socialcraft in Los Angeles, Craft and Folk Art Museum, LA (Journal of Aesthetics and Protest)          Rocktobersurprisefest, Glendale College Art Gallery, Glendale, CA Bleeding Edge Festival, Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA          (Volume) Carter, Kate Davis, Karen Lofgren, Torbjorn Vejvi , Anna Helwing Gallery, LA Hotel California, Glendale College Art Gallery,          Glendale, CA (curated by Daniel Hug and Roger Dickes)
2005 S.E.L.F., Daniel Hug Gallery, Los Angeles Christmas in July, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles (cur. Roger Herman) star left, Los          Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (JOAP)
2004 High Desert Test Sites#4, Joshua Tree, CA (Andrea Zittel)

Awards

2009 Durfee Foundation ARC Grant
2009 Artist Residency, Pitzer College, Claremont, CA
2003 Canada Council for the Arts, Creation/Production Award to Emerging Artists

Selected Publications and Media

Artforum.com “Critic’s Picks: Karen Lofgren”, Andrew Berardini, August 26, 2009
James Hardway, EP Album ‘oicho’ featuring “Downward Dog”, August 2009
Karen Lofgren “Gold Flood”, edition of 100 artist books, August, 2009
IE Weekly, “Golden Rules: Installation artist Karen Lofgren Taps Into Our Collective Unconscious”, Stacy Davies, July 30, 2009
"A Field Guide to LACMA", Catalogue Publication, 2009
LA Weekly "LACMA Deconstructed", Gendy Alimurung, November 20, 2008 LA Weekly “The Collector of Experiences”, Gendy Alimurung, December 27, 2006 Mercury News “Villa Montalvo’s Bleeding Edge Festival”, Brad Kava, August 2006
CalArts Happenings, "Machine Project: No White Cube", Margaret Crane, Spring 2006
LA Times, "Alchemy Yeilds a Subtle Magic", David Pagel, August 26, 2005
LA CityBeat # 75, 11/11/2004
Journal of Aesthetics and Protest issue 2, 2003 (cover art) CalArts Current, January 1999, feature of student work

Lectures, Panels, Teaching

2009 Visiting Artist Lecture, Pitzer College
2009 Panel Discussion moderated by Liz Glynn with Olga Koumoundouros and Andrea Bowers on the Economy of Sculpture at FOCA,          Los Angeles 2007-08 Instructor, Riverside Community College
2007 MOCA, Los Angeles, Guest Artist for Contemporary Art Start Teacher Training
2004-7 Adjunct Professor of Art, Chaffey College

Discography

2005 Murdersquad, guest vocal track (CD) Wounded Paw Records, Toronto 2003 Technova (David Harrow), Kill the DJ Keoki Nonstop          Mashup, (V/A CD), Cleopatra Records, LA 2003 Murdersquad, guest vocal track (CD), Wounded Paw Records, Toronto 2000 Sick          and Twisted Records #2 (V/A LP/CD), Sick & Twisted, Montreal
2000 An Anthology of Underground Music in Canada Volume III, (V/A CD)
2000 The Canadian Independent Box Set, (V/A CD)
2000 V/A Women’s Shelter benefit LP, Outcast Records, Seattle, WA
1999 Absolute Destruction (V/A CD), Arson Records, Kingston
1998 Go! 47 Canadian HC Bands (V/A LP/CD)
1998 Nuclear, (Spazmz CD), Wounded Paw Records, Toronto
1997 Spazmz (Self Titled EP), Signal to Noise, Toronto
1995 Bernice Was Here, Demo Recording

Partners:

The Long Beach Redevelopment Agency is proud to partner with Phantom Galleries LA, not only to revive empty storefronts along our major corridors, but also to showcase the arts and build a sense of community and culture in our Downtown," said Craig Beck, Executive Director of the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. LongBeachRDA.org