Christina Quarles. Collapsed Time

"Christina Quarles. Collapsed Time" introduces the work of LA-based painter Christina Quarles on the occasion of her first institutional solo exhibition in Germany. For more than a decade, Quarles has been painting figures that are at once confined within the limits of the canvas, yet propelled to defy the boundaries that contain them. This has been the artist's way of reflecting on what she refers to as "the experience of living in a gendered, racialized body". Several of Quarles' paintings and drawings, including a site-specific, large-scale painting, appear within an architectural installation that was conceived for the exhibition. The works are in dialogue with a selection from the National Gallery's collection at Hamburger Bahnhof by artists such as Vito Acconci, Nam June Paik, and Charlotte Posenenske.
This is the first in a series of publications accompanying solo exhibitions of contemporary artists at Hamburger Bahnhof - Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart. It comprises a curatorial text, a comprehensive interview with the artist, and an essay contribution by Jillian Hernandez situating her work within a larger context.