Gabriella Y. Karin is an accomplished sculptor who makes figurative forms and images that express a wide range of human emotions as well as sculptures that are motivated by the Holocaust. She was born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, and by the age of 15, had experienced the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. After the war she studied fashion design for three years, earning a degree in the process. A long career in the fashion industry as a designer and production patternmaker followed. After her retirement, she started to work in clay, ultimately studying at the Park La Brea Art Center under Sandy Moss.

Whimsy and realism are the hallmarks of Gabriella Karin's sensitive, small sculptures as the viewer is drawn into layers of meaning, nuance and emotion. Given the experiences of her childhood, some of Karin's work is tragic, illustrating an emotional response to the horrors of that time, by showing pain and suffering through the individuals in her group sculptures. Rather than depicting a sense of anger Karin's work exudes hope that her story can help prevent unjust persecution and cruelty in the world.

Karin's less topical works are flowing, erotic, playful, mystical and charming. Many pieces convey a sense of strength, pride and elusiveness, as her subjects show love, sadness and delight. She is particularly effective in showing the loving feelings between mother, child, or man and woman. By creating cheerful, coy, relaxed images of children at play, Karin recaptures a childhood once stolen by the Nazis.

Regardless of her sculpture subject matter, the viewer is moved emotionally. Her creativity explodes in her abstract expression and is an inspiration for all who have the opportunity to view her work.

E-mail: gokarin@earthlink.net

Tel: (323)934-7897