Karl Unnasch: One Inch Punch
September 27, 2008 – January 18, 2009
southeast minnesota artist's exhibition series
accent gallery
Karl Unasch's work is informed and influenced by seemingly disparate elements that fuse and coalesce into objects with great metaphoric and narrative possibilities. These contrasting elements— undisturbed nature and intentional destruction, the urban and the rural, the beautiful and the grotesque, the professional and the amateur, life and death—provide fertile aesthetic and theoretical ground for the exploration and questioning of human existence, behavior, and relationships. The sometime harsh reality of nature manifests itself in sculpture created and cast from expired animals, usually cast in bronze or iron. However, in many of these works, artificial miniature landscapes begin to grow in and around the hard surfaces, alluding to the possibility of growth and creation after the cessation of one form of existence. These works can often take on a sense of the surreal or the fantastical, appearing as if they have been evolving, aging, and growing over time. Unnasch states: " My desire to exist in serene places is evident in the synthetic miniature landscapes constructed upon/within the work. Reclaimed urban detritus such as salvaged objects and dead fauna are selected as physical and subjective foundations. Dead organic matter and scrap debris are often seen as unpleasant or ugly, hence fantastic settings are pieced together upon these harsh realities of death and loss as a means of escape from horror, investigation of subject, and consideration of beauty." For his exhibition at the Rochester Art Center, Unnasch will create a new large-scale installation in our second-floor Accent Gallery, and will also utilize public space in and around the Art Center for additional works.
Karl Unnach received his BFA from Winona State University in 1995, and his MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth in 2003. He has been awarded grants from the Jerome Foundation and the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council, and has participated in artist in residency programs at Sculpture Space, Utica, NY and St. Johns University, Collegeville, MN. He is also the Director of the Standard Issue Iron Pour, an annual sculpture invitational held outside of Chatfield, MN, with artists participating from across the United States. He has exhibited in numerous museums and galleries including The Berwick Institute, Boston, MA; Cornucopia Art Center, Lanesboro, MN; Luckystar Gallery, Milwaukee, WI; New Bedford Art Museum, New Bedford, MA; Fuller Museum, Brockon, MA; Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN; Ohio University, Athens, OH; Bloomington Art Center, Bloomington, MN, Wave Hill, Bronx, NY; MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, and Artspace, New Haven, CT, amongst others.
About the Southeast Minnesota Artist Exhibition Series:
To fully support artists working within the region, RAC has dedicated an exhibition series to artists who are producing new work that currently reside in any of the eleven counties of Southeastern Minnesota (counties include Dodge, Fillmore, Freeborn, Goodhue, Houston, Mower, Olmsted, Rice, Steele, Wabasha, and Winona). This series is designed to focus on emerging, mid-career, or established artists working in the SE Minnesota region.