OUR LABOUR, 2020-2021
Woodblock print on muslin and oil-based, relief block ink on dropcloth, mounted on canvas
15 ft. 8 ⅜ in. x 37 ft. 7 ¼ in. (4.8 x 11.5 m)
Courtesy of the artist
When the Parts Untangle, 2022
Woodblock print on muslin and oil-based, relief block ink on canvas, acrylic, spray paint, Japanese rice paper, mounted on dropcloth
8 ft. 11 ½ in. x 24 ft. 1 ⅛ in. (2.7 x 7.4 m)
Produced by the Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; supported by the Daniel W. Dietrich ‘64 Fund for Innovation in the Arts
Yonna and Towana, 2021
Woodblock print on muslin, acrylic, archival paper, colored pencil, Japanese rice paper, spray paint, and wood, mounted on canvas
97 x 95 ½ in. (246.4 x 242.6 cm)
Courtesy of the artist
Dan Protection Power Welding Mask, 2021
Stained and charred maple
13 ¼ x 10 ¾ x 11 ⅛ in. (33.7 x 27.3 x 28.3 cm)
Courtesy of the artist
Mbolo Ancestor Portrait Welding Mask, 2021
Stained and charred maple
18 ¾ x 11 ⅜ x 13 ⅜ in. (47.6 x 28.9 x 34 cm)
Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY. Purchase, William G. Roehrick ’34 Art Acquisition and Preservation Fund
About
Through his print-based collages and sculptures, Yashua Klos explores the intersections among the human form, natural elements, the built environment, and social hierarchies. His practice employs a process of collaging woodblock prints to engage ideas about Blackness and maleness as identities that are both fragmented and constructed. His recent work takes on personal histories of race, identity, and familial ties. For the exhibition Yashua Klos: OUR LABOUR, the artist notes, “I have been exploring identity as a compilation of various influences, as our identities are never sourced from a singular place. We are built from our hopes, the materials of our environment, our gene pool, and the mythologies we adapt.”
Yashua Klos lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He received a BFA from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb in 2000 and an MFA from Hunter College, City University of New York, in 2009, both in Fine Art. He has exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Weatherspoon Museum at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; Tilton Gallery, New York; and Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France. His works are included in the Pizzuti Collection, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Wellin Museum of Art’s permanent collection. He has been awarded residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, BRIC Arts, the Joan Mitchell Center, Skowhegan, and the Vermont Studio Center. He is the recipient of a 2014 Joan Mitchell Foundation grant and a 2015 New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship.
