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November Issue 2007
Corrigan Gallery in Charleston, SC, Offers Works by Karin Olah
The Corrigan Gallery
in Charleston, SC, is pleased to present a solo show of new works
by Karin Olah entitled Incantations in Thread, on view
from Nov. 2 - 30, 2007. This show is part of the Ninth Charleston
Fine Art Annual weekend produced by the Charleston Fine Art Dealers'
Association.
Olah's artwork was used for the Charleston Farmers' Market poster in both 2006 and 2007. She was selected one of the top ten emerging artists in the city as part of the "Under the Radar" project by Halsey Institute at the College of Charleston and Charleston Magazine last year. Olah has been included in many shows and her artwork has been acquired by the Medical University of South Carolina for their new contemporary collection. Her work grows in leaps and bounds meandering back and forth between abstraction and representation works that reference the lovely, historic gates and buildings of Charleston combined with the influence of American and African American tradition of quiltmaking.
Growing up in Lancaster County, PA, Olah's interest in Amish quilts led her to study American textile traditions. At the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore she focused on printmaking and color theory. After graduating in 1999, she managed a textile studio in New York City developing colors and patterns for clients including Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren, and Peter Marino Interior Architects.
For almost five years, Olah has made Charleston home and allowed the fabric of the city by the sea to reflect her work. Brick paths inspired the Confabulation Series, where red circles vied for attention between green and blue vertical strips of fabric. One can imagine old bricks with grass growing between them the same bricks seen by William Halsey and Elizabeth O'Neill Verner in the years past.
Olah says, "Of course, I don't always look down for inspiration. My gate series focuses on the wrought iron architectural details... I stand and stare at a gate, drink up its persona, snap a picture and then create something new in the studio while working from sketches, photos and memory." The mixed media collages are inspired by the textural composition of Charleston's stucco architecture, cobblestone streets and wrought iron gates.
Olah creates images using the materials, aesthetics and symbols of quiltmakers. She uses fabric, mimicking the flow of paint from a brush. She creates by connecting fragments, piecing material together to create a whole image. Layers of cottons, silks and linens blend with calligraphic marks as graphite lines intersect the surface showing a ghost of a grid providing guidance and structure. Geometric shapes balance organic forms with rich colors while other pieces are created in neutral earth tones. Olah's thoroughly modern approach to fabric, while being informed by the past, offers a fresh interpretation of universal imagery through color and texture.
Speaking of the creative process Olah states "The way that I under-paint, layer, add texture and work from lean to fat is like that of an oil painter. The way that I finish a collage painting with thread feels like drawing. I have a fabulous assortment of fabrics, collected over the last 15 years." Olah made a series of large geometric quilts but it was the piecing not the sewing that she enjoyed cutting the fabric and arranging it. She states, "I had a eureka! moment when, on a whim and with a last minute show approaching, I quickly glued a miniature quilt to paper. No sewing! I could hear bells going off." This moment of inspiration, with a great deal of preparation behind it, has catapulted Olah's work to where it is today.
For further information check our SC Commercial
Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/722-9868 or visit (www.corrigangallery.com).
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