ARTSpeak: Yashua Klos

Photo of Klos by Andrew Kist.

“Your Strength Is In Your Shadow” (2021) by Yashua Klos. Image courtesy of UTA Artist Space.

In his multimedia practice, Yashua Klos explores themes of identity, memory, and African Americans’ relation­ship to American labor. His large-scale works are created from the intricate formation of woodblock prints, representing ideas of Blackness through multi-dimensional, fragmented portraits. Unlike traditional collage arranged from ready-made source material, Klos creates all his collage material through woodblock printing and monotypes. His work reimagines the Black body as an alchemical being, surviving and existing within intertwined networks of history, myth, and lived reality.

Yashua Klos was born in 1971 in Chicago, and currently lives and works in Brooklyn. His work has been shown in museums and galleries across the U.S. and abroad, including the Studio Museum of Harlem; What If The World Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa; Tilton Gallery, NY; and UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, CA. He has been awarded artist residences at Skowkegan, The Vermont Studio Center, and Bemis, and was the recipient of a Joan Mitchell Fellowship and a NYFA grant.

This program is presented by the Fine Arts Department and has been made possible by a generous grant from Susan Daykin.

This event is free and open to the public; FIT requires face masks be worn by all audience members.