SITE Santa Fe is pleased to present a new exhibition by Klara Kristalova from June 27 – September 6, 2009.

To enter a gallery populated with Klara Kristalova's creatures is to enter a vaguely sinister and weirdly personal fairy tale. The hand-painted ceramic figures speak directly to the artist's interior life. A ceramic bust of a woman besieged by moths and another of a woman with vines coming out of her eyes where tears should be both vibrate with the clarity of a dream image you can't forget, but whose context you can't remember. The absurdity of the imagery is paired with simplicity in presentation; works are placed on white cloth-covered tables, plain pedestals or directly on the floor. This combination, along with the intentionally handmade quality of her sculptures, gives the work a classical presence despite its idiosyncratic nature.

Klara Kristalova (b. 1967, Czechoslovakia; lives and works in Norrtälje, Sweden) creates figurative ceramic sculptures that take on hybrid forms. Many of Kristalova’s works incorporate both aspects of the human body and elements of nature, such as animals, insects, flowers, and trees. Infused with uncanny details and observations from her daily life and surroundings, Kristalova’s figures constitute a juxtaposition of scale where minute details reflect the monumental impact of constant change. Her oeuvre is grounded in an exploration of transitional states essential to both human and ecological life, and her sculptures conjure a familiar yet fantastical presence that exudes raw emotion. Building a fictive world that bridges humanity, ecology, and fantasy, Kristalova’s sculptures undergird the omnipresence of change across all forms of life.

Crafted in the artist’s secluded studio in Norrtälje, Sweden, Kristalova’s rugged style evokes a sense of discomfort, mirroring the sensitive and porous emotional landscape one finds themselves in when weathering changes. The figures exist in a liminal state, often possessing both human and anthropomorphic qualities and perhaps challenging such distinctions altogether. In this sense, Kristalova’s rustic style reminds us that the sculptural process is inherently transformative, as natural materials are shaped into static and enduring forms.