Closing dialogue event for “BORDERLINES (Ellis Island)”
I'm also delighted that the exhibition was reviewed in Glasstire by Joseph Staley: https://glasstire.com/2025/12/21/archive-without-faces-karen-schiffs-borderlines/.
Houston locals could attend this event in person at The Transart Foundation for Art & Anthropology, 1412 W. Alabama in Montrose (near the Menil parking lot). The event's generous host, Transart founding director/curator Surpik Angelini, also provided chocolates. Other, non-local attendees tuned in via Zoom from across the US.
I'm also delighted that the exhibition was reviewed in Glasstire by Joseph Staley: https://glasstire.com/2025/12/21/archive-without-faces-karen-schiffs-borderlines/.
“BORDERLINES (Ellis Island)” solo show in Houston
My solo exhibition, "BORDERLINES (Ellis Island)," is at the Transart Foundation for Art & Anthropology, a non-profit foundation in Houston, Texas, October 12, 2025 through January 6, 2026. The exhibition consists of multilayered rubbings from floors and maps at Ellis Island – that iconic, historic entry portal for US immigration – which become occasions for ruminating on the diverse mythologies of immigration and arrival that underlie our national self-definitions.
My solo exhibition, "BORDERLINES (Ellis Island)," is at the Transart Foundation for Art & Anthropology, a non-profit foundation in Houston, Texas, October 12, 2025 through January 6, 2026. The exhibition consists of multilayered rubbings from floors and maps at Ellis Island – that iconic, historic entry portal for US immigration – which become occasions for ruminating on the diverse mythologies of immigration and arrival that underlie our national self-definitions.
One rubbing, of the fractured concrete slabs in the entrance lobby, is transferred onto a fabric (17 sq. feet) on which exhibition visitors can walk, completing the drawing with their footprints. Another large rubbing, a detail of which is above, records the terracotta tiles on which immigrants would walk toward the “Stairs of Separation” after a border agent had decided to admit them. Smaller rubbings are taken from 3D visitors’ maps designed to be tactile navigation aids.
This exhibition began as a proposal (called “America’s Front Porch”) for the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale. A closing dialogue event is being planned for Sunday, January 4, 3:00-4:30 p.m. This artwork is ideally the first of a series of studies of architectures at US borders.
Artwork in Annual AIDS Benefit auction, Krakow Witkin Gallery
“Untitled (Embrace),” made by folding and stretching a hospital gown over a canvas, was sold in December 2024 to benefit the Boston Pediatric and Family AIDS Program at the non-profit, minority-owned Dimock Center. Many thanks to the team at Krakow Witkin Gallery for organizing this annual donation project.
“Untitled (Embrace),” made by folding and stretching a hospital gown over a canvas, was sold in December 2024 to benefit the Boston Pediatric and Family AIDS Program at the non-profit, minority-owned Dimock Center. Many thanks to the team at Krakow Witkin Gallery for organizing this annual donation project.
“Human Zoos, Surrealism, and André Breton’s Advocacy for Picasso’s ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’”
I presented a paper during another annual ISSS conference (International Society for the Study of Surrealism, October 28-30, 2024 at the American University of Paris), on why André Breton was eager for his boss, collector and fashion designer Jacques Doucet, to buy Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. (Contrary to current ideas about Picasso, it was about progressive politics.)
I presented a paper during another annual ISSS conference (International Society for the Study of Surrealism, October 28-30, 2024 at the American University of Paris), on why André Breton was eager for his boss, collector and fashion designer Jacques Doucet, to buy Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. (Contrary to current ideas about Picasso, it was about progressive politics.)
Publication (10/4/24) of “Gender Complexity in Picasso’s ‘Les Demoiselles d’Avignon’: The Precedent of the ‘Sleeping Hermaphroditus’ Sculpture’
My first peer-reviewed article (it's in English) in the long-term project of reinterpreting Picasso’s Demoiselles -- “Gender Complexity in Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon: The Precedent of the Sleeping Hermaphroditus Sculpture” -- has been published in a special issue of Boletín de Arte, an art history journal based in Málaga, Spain. The editors created this Picasso-themed issue (in the city of Picasso’s birth!) to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the artist’s death, though it was not possible for the journal to publish this material during the year of anniversary observances in 2023. Many thanks to the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (and the associated Glassell School of Art) for the fellowship that made this step possible.
My first peer-reviewed article (it's in English) in the long-term project of reinterpreting Picasso’s Demoiselles -- “Gender Complexity in Picasso's Les Demoiselles d'Avignon: The Precedent of the Sleeping Hermaphroditus Sculpture” -- has been published in a special issue of Boletín de Arte, an art history journal based in Málaga, Spain. The editors created this Picasso-themed issue (in the city of Picasso’s birth!) to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the artist’s death, though it was not possible for the journal to publish this material during the year of anniversary observances in 2023. Many thanks to the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (and the associated Glassell School of Art) for the fellowship that made this step possible.