At Future Fair edition of 2023, SUPPAN presents a solo exhibition with works by multidisciplinary artist Karo Kuchar. Her conceptual work is based on the idea of a symbiosis between body and space, and focuses on the various concepts of the skin as a shell or cover, as well as the body as an architectural structure. She critically examines society, legal aspects of art and the economic market, as well as feminism. Her so called skins made out of fabric capture the imprint of walls in old buildings and the appearance of female garment, erecting a structure with an ambivalent form. „The artist stretches bikinis and swim trunks across stretcher frames, sometimes combining them into ultra-crisp "pairs." Provided with mischievous titles, she transforms bare walls into pieces of clothing, thus humorously referencing the last piece of cloth that covers our most private parts. The focus of her interest are transformation processes, appropriations and conditions that lead to a change in optics. In her latest group of works (“Juicy Series”), the material's narrative potential and the network of relationships between space and body fill parts of organza fabric with skin-colored curves. Striped wall surfaces are stretched in between to show the fragmented body from behind. Sensual “soft sculptures” burst the frame in voluminous bulges, arching into the room and revealing a playful approach to the genre of wall reliefs. The Tinder Boy series contradicts the screens of our smartphones. These works show individual profiles of the dating app "Tinder" made of cotton, organza, leather, acrylic paint and filler. Machine-sewn representations, “fragile egos” of ripped upper bodies and erect penises in colorful boxer shorts, together with painted symbols and texts, reveal information about their potent wearers. The screen is also a new piece of skin that we carry in front of us.“ (Barbara Horvath, art historian and curator)

KARO KUCHAR
born (1986) in Vienna
2005-2013 University of Vienna
2016-2018 Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Figurative painting (Kirsi Mikkola)
2018-2021 Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Expanded pictorial space (Daniel Richter)
EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION)
2023 Solo Booth at Future Fair NYC (US) with SUPPAN
Six Solos, SUPPAN, Vienna (AT)
Undercover (solo), Galerie Sophia Vonier, Salzburg (AT)
2022 NBB Paperworks+ III, NBB Gallery, Berlin (DE)
A Juicy December Show, Hotel Altstadt, Vienna (AT)
Feminisms, Gallery Septieme, Paris (FR)
Duo show with Poppy Jones at Contrappunto project room at VIN VIN Gallery, Vienna (AT)
Group show of the residency by Art Explora and Artagon, Hangar Y, Meudon (FR)
Dear Diary,... group show curated by Julie Legouez, Culterim Gallery, Berlin (DE)
Sehnsucht, curated by Melissa Joseph, Field Projects gallery, New York City (US)
Taking Back the Looking-Glass, with Shagha Ariannia & Rebecca Brodskis, Septieme Gallery, Paris (FR)
Space Suit, installation in public space, Performance Fiction Festival, Toihaus Theater, Salzburg (AT)
37. Austrian Graphic Competition, Haus der Kultur, Waltherhaus, Bolzano (IT)
Turbo, Red Carpet Showroom Volkstheater, Vienna (AT)
Academy charity auction 2022 in Cooperation with Dorotheum, Semperdepot Vienna (AT)
2021 Artist Statement (solo) at Parallel Vienna Art Fair, Vienna (AT)
I’ve heard there is an after hour? solo at Gallery Gundula Gruber, Vienna (AT)
2018 broken walls. Pfusch am Bau, solo at t/abor, Vienna (AT)
15th young art auction, Artcare FLOMYCA - Floridsdorf Museum of young and contemporary art (AT)
Identity, group show, Gallery Mirko Mayer, Cologne (DE)
Retrospective Austrian Graphic Competition 20 years in Taxispalais, Taxispalais Contemporary Art
Center Tyrol (AT)
Koschatzky Art Award 2021 group exhibition of the finalists at Palais Schönborn-Batthyány, Vienna (AT)
2020 group show, Parallel Vienna Art Fair (AT)
Tour Vienna group show, Gallery Mirko Mayer, Cologne (DE)
Rundgang, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (AT)
2019 group show, Parallel Vienna Art Fair (AT)
Full Court Desire curated by Jasha Greenberg & Ben Reyer group show, Vienna (AT)
Nominated for the Koschatzky Art Award group show of the finalists, MUMOK Vienna (AT)
Rundgang, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna
2018 Sankt Petersburger Erhängung curated by Ema Kaiser & David Hassbach, iko art, Vienna (AT)
Rundgang, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (AT)
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
2022 nominated for “Prix de Peinture - Novembre à Vitry”, Vitry-sur-Seine (FR)
nominated for the Kunsthalle Prize
2021 37. Austrian Graphic Competition of Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol, Prize of the city of Innsbruck
3rd Prize at Koschatzky Art Award
2020 project grant, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
nominated for Strabag Art Award
2019 nominated for Koschatzky Art Award
COLLECTIONS
public art collection of the federal state of Tyrol (AT)
private collection of the Rotary Club Albertina (AT)
RESIDENCIES
2022 production and exhibition residency at Hangar Y with Art Explora and Artagon, Meudon (FR)
2023 Residency with “The room projects” at La Maison d’Odile, Bernède (FR)