Karen Knorr Solo Exhibition
Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire,
17 rue des Filles-du-Calvaire, Paris
Closes 29 April 2023

Galerie Les Filles du Calvaire is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Karen Knorr in Paris. An emblematic figure of contemporary photography, Karen Knorr belongs to a generation of artists who questioned the nature of photography, no longer considering it as a pure expression of reality, but as a fabricated image.

This exhibition is an opportunity to rediscover historical works including examples from Gentlemen (1981–83), Country Life (1983–85), Connoisseurs (1986-1990), Academies (1994–2005) and Fables (2003-2022) alongside recent and unpublished works.

An American born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Karen Knorr was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 1960s and educated in Paris and London. At the University of Westminster, Knorr studied alongside Olivier Richon, Mitra Tabrizian and Mark Lewis, addressing the critical debates concerning the “politics of representation” that emerged during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Karen Knorr’s work has developed a critical and playful dialogue with photography, using different visual and textual strategies to explore her subject matter, focusing upon themes that range from the family and lifestyle to the animal and its representation in the museum context. Knorr uses photography to explore western cultural traditions, from the gentlemen’s clubs of Saint James to elegant Palladian country houses, presenting and commenting upon British society. Her work constantly maintains a critical dialogue with conceptual art, visual culture, feminism and animal studies.

Closing Soon in the UK:

Works from Capital are on view until 6 May 2023 as part of the group exhibition A Tall Order! – Rochdale Art Gallery in the 1980s: at Touchstones Rochdale Museum, Rochdale, UK. In the 1980s, Touchstones was known as Rochdale Art Gallery. Its daring and innovative approach to exhibition and education programming positioned it on the national map. Led by Exhibition Officer, Jill Morgan, the focus on exhibiting artists engaged in critical and socio-political practice gave a platform to those who were not being offered the opportunity to show their work in other high profile institutions. A Tall Order! is an invigorating look at the artwork made and exhibited here during the 1980s by a generation of artists, many of whom were women, young, working class and Black.