Kara Walker’s “historical” shadow dramas depict unseemly acts of sex, birth, dismemberment and play that accentuate the slippery separations between dominance and desire, fantasy and fear. The artist’s installation at REDCAT continues her recent experiments with projection and shadow, live performance, animation and film. For her first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, Walker carves out a clearing among a façade of moody trees and darkness. Into this makeshift set she injects variations on projected light: a new 16mm film, overhead projections, a shadow puppet performance. The exhibition features the premiere of the film 8 Possible Beginnings: or the Creation of African-America. A Moving Picture by the young, self-taught, Genius of the South K.E. Walker. Walker’s work has been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, Kunstverein Hannover, Walker Art Center and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The artist will orchestrate shadow puppet performances in the installation for her opening and closing receptions.

This exhibition is made possible in part by the generous support of Steve Martin, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and V. Joy Simmons.

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