Kira Lynn Harris

Page 1 | 2 | Biography

Waterfall, 2005,  installation, PS1/MoMA
Waterfall, 2005, installation, PS1/MoMA
An artist whose work posits an intersection of the formal concerns of space, light and the phenomenological with issues of individual subjectivity, Kira Lynn Harris is based in New York City. A member of the artist group, Nomads and Residents, she was a 2001 – 2002 Artist in Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Other residencies include Art Omi and the Center for Photography at Woodstock. Ms. Harris exhibits her art widely and her work has been favorably reviewed in New York Times and the Los Angeles Times among other publications. Kira Lynn Harris is a graduate of the California Institute of the Arts and completed the Whitney Independent Study Program in 1999.
Waterfall, 2005, site specific installation PS1
Waterfall, 2005, site specific installation PS1
"My projects often provide a disorienting encounter for the viewer: in my installations I am concerned with destabilization and re-orientation. To achieve this I often create architectural and environmental interventions – by using light and reflective surfaces; by inverting subject and object or figure and ground; and / or by reversing up and down, exterior and interior."
From artist statement
Crescendo, 2006
Crescendo, 2006
Point of Entry, Detail 1
Point of Entry, Detail 1
Falling Up, 2003, mirror installation
Falling Up, 2003, mirror installation
With Waterfall (2005), an installation in P.S.1's south stairwell, Harris intends "to call the viewer's attention to a space that is, like hallways and corridors, a place to pass through, with little concentration on the space itself: a stairwell originally intended as a simple passageway." Silver Mylar "streams" down the steps to one side of the viewer as he or she passes through the space, illuminated by simple track lighting from above. In the corners of landings triangles of Mylar sheathed plywood are clustered together to open and deepen otherwise terminal spaces. The effect created is magical, and encourages renewed attention to P.S.1's native architecture. Notably, Harris' shining, reflective materials highlight the building's signature, often peeling, painted brick walls, casting a new glow on history.

Alanna Heiss, PS 1, 2005

In 2005, Elisa Monte Dance premiered Via Sacra a ballet in three parts at the Joyce Theater in New York. This work, choreographed by Elisa Monte, featured lighting by Clifton Taylor and three set designs by Kira Lynn Harris. Via Sacra is being performed internationally. This was Ms. Harris’ first collaborative project as well as her first project for the stage.
Psyche
Psyche's Journey, Via Sacra set design
Harris’s sets correspond to the mood of each act and her collaboration with the lighting director, Clifton Taylor, is vitally important to their effect. The sets also directly come together with Harris’s past work with Mylar® and they function as huge abstract paintings that link Minimalism, color field painting, and light installations. They very much operate in the arena of the Sublime with a capital “S.”

Essential Light
Susan Isaacs, 2005
Kira Lynn Harris
New York, NY
New York
North America

T:
F:
M:
w: http://www.kiralynnharris.com




Web Links
Modern Painters: Over 40, Under the Radar
Nka Magazine: Just Beyond Reality's Edge: Kira Lynn Harris by Nicole Caruth
Waves of Light: Light Now, Hilarie M. Sheets for ARTnews
Artslant: Kira Lynn Harris artist page
Ask Art
(Re)Direct(ing) Light, Essay by Tonya Foster for NYFA
Norari online art magazine
Bruno Marina Gallery
Between Light and a (Strange) Place, Essay by Franklin Sirmans for Bruno Marina Gallery
Esopus Magazine
SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
Click on the map to search the regions



Recent exhibitions highlighted in the weekly Feature Newsletter



RaebervonStenglin, Zurich presents Ivan Seal


7 June - 27 July 2013

I remember when I was 18 or so I would go to nightclubs in Manchester and take E or acid and shadows shifting up and down the walls swans, red glass purred me to sleep candle at my mum's ornaments...

Read On...



ELI KLEIN, New York presents Liu Bolin "Mask"


6 June - 21 July 2013

The show is a reflection of Liu Bolin's multifaceted and complex view of contemporary society and culture. The critically acclaimed and internationally renowned artist will release the first works of a new series, Hiding in California.

Read On...



SHOSHANA WAYNE GALLERY, Los Angeles presents YVONNE VENEGAS - Borrando la Linea


1 June - 23 Aug 2013

Shoshana Wayne Gallery presents a solo show of photographs by Yvonne Venegas who continues to investigate the notion of portraiture. As a youth, Yvonne began her exploration of capturing images through photographs that she took of her twin sister Julieta, now a famous pop singer in Mexico.

Read On...