ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

KARL HAENDEL

I NEED WORK

8 September – 13 October 2007

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 8, 6-8 pm

Harris Lieberman is pleased to announce the opening of I Need Work, the first New York solo exhibition of Los Angeles-based artist Karl Haendel. Haendel’s monochromatic graphite drawings combine a virtuosic technical ability with an interest in social, cultural and political critique. Imbued with a sharp sense of humor, Haendel’s work uses images and language to upend notions of authenticity and truth. The way in which he juxtaposes formally diverse drawings with dramatic shifts in scale and a non-hierarchical style of installation are attempts to create new meaning through order and classification.

Haendel’s selection of images has both personal and collective resonance. I Need Work is his most autobiographical exhibition to date with images taken from the political landscape of the 1970s along with family snapshots, Jewish baseball heroes, and his own scribbles. The title of the exhibition refers to the importance of Haendel’s daily studio practice, his psychological dependence on work, and his view of the artist as laborer.

Karl Haendel received an MFA from UCLA in 2003. In 2005, he had a solo MoCA Focus exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. Haendel’s work has also been exhibited in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the touring exhibition, Uncertain States of America, which originated at the Astrup Fearnley Museum for Modern Art, Oslo and traveled to, among other venues, the Serpentine Gallery, London and the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College.