«Figuration Program» at Karma International

Figuration Program at Karma International

The figures in Figuration Program, a new exhibition at Karma International, are unabashedly present—or manifest themselves through a partial absence, negative shape, a trace of gesture not seen, in the cloak, as allegory, wearing socks. The polemical distinction between figurative and abstract art remains one of the key battle lines in 20th-century Modernism—and it is still palpable, being recoded in political terms again and again, in contemporary art practices. Neither figuration nor abstraction is reactionary or progressive per se: their significance changes, depending on the socio-political context.

Hans Josephsohn's Sculptures

Early sculptures of Hans Josephsohn might be a case in point: born in a Jewish family in Königsberg, East Prussia, Josephsohn was forced to seek exile in Switzerland after a spell in Florence in 1938. He established his studio in Zurich in 1943 and remained focused on the human figure throughout his life. The 1958 female nude Untitled (Ruth) exudes uncertainty and fragility, which is both artistic and existential. The 1972 version of Ruth with a missing arm—broken off or unfinished—is no less vulnerable. A similar hesitation in the rendering of the human body is palpable in two figures included in the exhibition, the bust Untitled (Ruth) (1968) and Untitled (Verena) (1985).

Dora Budor's Works

Dora Budor’s 27 Male Molds (2021) is a display of silver-grey painted, wooden industrial molds with rusty metal handles which originated in a decommissioned iron foundry in Berlin. Arranged by the artist into a cluster of stacks, the objects bring to mind a choir of female torsos, totem-like, or perhaps the pipes of a large organ. They are reminiscent of military junk of past and present wars that now is reused as vintage furniture. This “birth of sculpture out of the spirit of war” is hinted at by Budor’s inclusion of another work, Shell Which Fell Without Exploding, (2021).

Other Artists in the Exhibition

Elsewhere in the show, Tosh Basco’s recent paintings with oil stick on canvas are traces of body movements, a choreography turned into marks of an absent body on a two-dimensional surface. Leyla Faye’s large drawing Fisherman’s Knot portrays a disquieting, oneiric (as)symmetry of muscular bodies. Akeem Smith in collaboration with Jessi Reeves presents sculptures made of found materials, including authentic garments and jewelry. Louise Lawler’s photograph Roche Dinkeloo & Assoc., Metropolitan Museum of Art, André Meyer Gallery and Christopher Williams' photographs provide a counterweight to any essentialist reading of sculpture.