Yashua Klos
About
Yashua Klos (b.1977, Chicago) is an artist best known for his large-scale collage works which address issues of identity, race, memory and community.
Influenced by his upbringing in Chicago’s South Side, Klos challenges the construction and conventions of African-American identity. Notions of marginalisation, masculinity, and urban mythology are unpacked through examining behaviours within communities. He uses portraiture to highlight narratives of suppression, denial, and pain associated with the vulnerability experienced in black communities; and pins this against stoic performances of adaptation and thriving.
Klos finished his Master of Fine Arts at Hunter College in New York in 2009, after studying his undergraduate degree at Northern Illinois University. He has been awarded residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan; The Vermont Studio Center, Johnson and Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha. He is the recipient of a 2014 Joan Mitchell Fellowship and a 2015 NYFA Grant.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
| 2016 | Blank Black, Galerie Anne DeVillepoix, Paris |
| How To Hide in the Wind, Papillion Art, Los Angeles | |
| 2015 | As Below, So Above, Tilton Gallery, New York |
| 2013 | We Come Undone, Tilton Gallery, New York |
Selected Group Exhibitions
| 2019 | Plumb Line, California African American Museum (CAAM) |
| 2018 | Cosmic Traffic Jam, Steven Zevitas Gallery, LA |
| Go Figure, The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus | |
| New On the Wall (N.O.W.), The Pizzuti Collection, Columbus | |
| 2017 | Everyday Anomaly - WHATIFTHEWORLD, Cape Town |
| Art on the Vine, presented by The Agora Culture, Edgartown | |
| Face to Face: Los Angeles Collects Portraiture, California African American Museum, Los Angeles | |
| Give Us the Vote, ArtsWestchester, White Plains, New York | |
| 2016 | Black Pulp!, The International Print Center, New York |
| Look up here, I’m in heaven, BRIC Arts Media, Brooklyn | |
| 2015 | Broken English, Tyburn Gallery, London |
| To Be Young, Gifted, and Black, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg | |
| 2014 | In Plain Sight, The Arts & Recreation Center, Opa-locka |
| 2012 | Fore, Studio Museum in Harlem, New York |
| Singular Masses, Memphis College of Art, Memphis | |
| Bigger Than Shadows, Dodge Gallery, New York | |
| Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro | |
| 2011 | Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Museum, Greensboro |
| 2010 | ELSE, Tilton Gallery, New York |
| Lush Life, Scaramouche Gallery, New York | |
| 2009 | Up and Coming: New Printmakers Make Their Mark, The Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton |
| From Africa To America, Iona College, New Rochelle, New York |
Awards
2015 NYFA Grant
2014 Joan Mitchell Fellowship