Karen Lakar

The tremendous, strong, archaic statuaries and sculptures made of bronze, wood and plaster, with their curves and a militant mimicry, paired with the seeming elegance of fantasy objects, sometimes wish to vanish into the air at the surface. In the work of the artist Karen Lakar they long for harmonic unity, the being-one with the natural elements. The memory of earth spirits of the caves and underworld also conveys mental references to the myths of former high civilizations. These sculptures could also be figures from another world, whose subtle effect is catching us with a solemnness that is almost magical.

The corporeal, refined form language with its curves, caves, corners and edges and the volumes that are related to each other harmonically, is thus presenting itself as an intuitive primeval experience, that rises from deeper and older levels, a rise from the undergrounds.
Figures like those are not shaped easily, neither are they simple games of phantasy, but you can feel the artist’s combat with them, as their realization is conducted with heavy physical work up to exhaustion.

Barbara Saxinger, art historian M.A.

Curriculum Vitae

Born in the Rheinland
– Study of fashion design at the Berlin Academy of Arts, awarded graduation
– 1974-1977 Second Study for Theatre Costume Design Assistant of Set Designer and Costumer Roman Weyl; different freelance engagements
– 1983 – To Date Freelance Designer in a studio in Munich
– 1995 – 1998 student from the artist and educator Gisela Drescher in the Atelier for Sculpting and dDesign Munich/Sendling
– 1998 – 1998, 1999 and 2000 workshops for stone sculpting with Portland Stone (lime sandstone)
– 1998 and 1999 workshops for large-size modelling with Erika Bopp
– 1999 and 2000 workshops for stone sculpting with marble with Alex Naef in Peccia/Italian Switzerland
– 2004 workshops in wood sculpting and nude shaping with Daniel Eggli and Fredi Thalmann in Peccia/Italian Switzerland
– 2005 workshops in wood sculpting with Daniel Eggli in Peccia/Italian Switzerland – workshop “Self and Work” with Rona Pondick and Robert Feintuch – at the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts in Salzburg

Exhibitions

1974 – Group exhibition with Gisela Drescher and other artists at the Ascension Church in Munich – District Exhibition Arts Forum in Munich/Sendling

1998 – Exhibition in Munich of works – she has created since 1996 in ytong, bronze and stone, acrylic paintings as well as wood in Byzantine technique

2001 – Spring and autumn art exhibition in the Zoological State Collection Munich

2002 – Art exhibition in the showroom of Mercedes-Benz Munich/Odeonsplatz

2002 – Art exhibition at Bulthaup Munich/Herrnstrasse

2002 – Exhibition in the gallery firstARTtrade in Zurich

2003 – Exhibition “Waves” in the gallery Galliano in Munich

2004 – Exhibition “Metamorphosen” (Metamorphoses) at the Mercedes-Benz-Center Munich
– Exhibition metal images “Tag und Nacht” (Day and Night) in Weilheim
– Exhibition wood sculptures in Sessa/Ticino (Switzerland)

2005 – Exhibition “Ausweitungen” (Expansions) at the Ludwig-Thoma Church in Grünwald – Exhibition “Bewegungen” (Movements) at the Kreissparkasse Starnberg in Starnberg – Image auction at the charity event of the Bavarian Trust Hospice at the Kreissparkasse Munich – Exhibition “Art at Burj al Arab” at the Hotel Burj Al Arab in Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Charity event: image auction in aid of the Bavarian Trust Hospice at the Kreissparkasse Munich – 2006 exhibition metal images “Tag und Nacht” (Day and Night) at a 25th anniversary of the company KBP–Kuehn Bauer in Munich – Participation in the art exhibition “Art for Charity” at the Mohatta-Palace-Museum in Karachi/Pakistan in aid of the victims of the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan 2005 – Exhibition “Bewegungen” (Movements) at the Kreissparkasse Starnberg in Starnberg

2007 – Art exhibition “Heart and Soul” at the Green Art Gallery in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

About the work

My work deals with the identity and intimacy, yet at the same time, refuses an over-offering of information. I have always been interested in the same things: rooms, figures, body shapes and contrasts. I am focussing on the composition, colours and image format.
In the composition, all figures always remain anonymous. The picture language is reduced to the basics, to details that stay in mind. It is fascinating for me to get to know and work out what can be done with a figure, against a colourful background. Clear colours, strong movements and simple structures are my means to create a lasting impression. I am examining the effect of different movements of the human body in snapshots. That is why the models I work with, have a great influence on my ideas. With the rooms and areas surrounding them, I am intensifying the effect of dynamics, strength and spontaneity of the composition.
The composition of colours is based on variants and nuances whose combination is geared towards the generation of depth, and to incorporate the figures and figure details that are displayed from the image edges into a spatial structure. The brightness of the colours and the intensive contrasts are created by the technique to apply several layers of colours on top of each other. The first basic colour is mostly black. In previous images I had used mainly three colours, whereat the colour shades of the background, always differed from the ones of the figures. Lately I am working more with colours, especially when shaping figures. The image’s expression is thus getting much more versatile, complex and vital.
I prefer to work with large-size fabrics. It is based mainly on the used technique of the colour application. Due to the multiple applications of colours on top of each other and the use of a lot of colour material, I am creating a structure of colour layers made visual on the fabrics that do yet come out differently during the work and thus create a different effect. It reaches from untransparent density up to clarity through gentle milky layers. They provide the figures with a vivid impression and are delineated clearly against the background at the same time.
Geboren im Rheinland.
Studium des Modedesigns an der Berliner Akademie der Künste, Abschlussexamen mit Auszeichnung.