Karla Kaplun
How Bright is the Sun?
March 29th - May 5th, 2024
How bright is the sun?
Asked the rabbit to the mole.
God answered in lumens
until proven wrong by naked eyes; overexposed sphered ghosts glaze all things
all covered
in colostrum white.
The smell of Icarus’ singed wings
as he approaches the mockery of his pride,
this was proven right by the old man with closed lids who lay in a cradle
that lulled him towards death.
How bright is the sun?
—He cried lucidly in what seemed a return from his seed-at-zero end —.
Oh, these elderly minutes,
how fetal they are!
Awaiting with a phoenix-like ace
under their arm.
Oh, this golden ball
amidst the space
and the tip of my blessing hand
bursts the iris’ cloudy macula
until gone again.
Should lanterns shine for all for whom the sun rises.
For everyone,
the sun rises.
The sun rises for everyone.
- Karla Kaplun
Karla Kaplun (b. 1993, Querétaro) lives and works in Mexico City. Selected solo exhibitions include Carmen, High Art, Paris (2023); La Misión, House of Gaga, Los Angeles (2022); La Compañía, House of Gaga, Mexico City (2020). Selected group exhibitions include The Den, House of Gaga, Mexico City (2022); Sala-jardín-bar: I Believe in God, Only I Call It Nature, Lodos, Mexico City (2021); Cuerpos, Lodos, Mexico City (2020).
Karla Kaplun has developed a practice which stages an interplay between historical influences from the Baroque and Mexican muralism. This negotiation is expressed not only in the formal rendering of her subjects, but in the narrative compositions of the works themselves. Often utilizing a text as a point of departure, the figures that populate Kaplun’s work recall Chaucer, the bible, folktales, or stories passed down through family. Kaplun integrates these divergent narratives into meticulously rendered tableaus, a
process through which they become infused into a narrative autonomous from their origin.
Karla Kaplun
Naranjo
2024
Oil on canvas
79½ x 40⅛ in.
202 x 102 cm
![FRANCIS IRV KARLA KAPLUN EXHIBITION IMAGE]()
![FRANCIS IRV KARLA KAPLUN EXHIBITION IMAGE]()
Naranjo
2024
Oil on canvas
79½ x 40⅛ in.
202 x 102 cm
Karla Kaplun
Study of a young man with a peeled orange
2024
Oil on canvas
79½ x 25⅝ in.
202 x 65 cm
![FRANCIS IRV KARLA KAPLUN EXHIBITION IMAGE]()
![FRANCIS IRV KARLA KAPLUN EXHIBITION IMAGE]()
Study of a young man with a peeled orange
2024
Oil on canvas
79½ x 25⅝ in.
202 x 65 cm
Karla Kaplun
Way of peeling an orange II
2024
Oil on canvas
12¼ x 16⅛ in.
31 x 41 cm
![FRANCIS IRV KARLA KAPLUN EXHIBITION IMAGE]()
![FRANCIS IRV KARLA KAPLUN EXHIBITION IMAGE]()
Karla Kaplun
Way of peeling an orange IV
2024
Oil on canvas
12¼ x 16⅛ in.
31 x 41 cm
![FRANCIS IRV KARLA KAPLUN EXHIBITION IMAGE]()
Way of peeling an orange II
2024
Oil on canvas
12¼ x 16⅛ in.
31 x 41 cm
Karla Kaplun Way of peeling an orange IV
2024
Oil on canvas
12¼ x 16⅛ in.
31 x 41 cm
Karla Kaplun
Way of peeling an orange I
2024
Oil on canvas
12¼ x 16⅛ in.
31 x 41 cm
Way of peeling an orange I
2024
Oil on canvas
12¼ x 16⅛ in.
31 x 41 cm
Karla Kaplun
Way of peeling an orange, sanguine
2024
Oil on canvas
16⅛ x 16⅛ in.
41 x 41 cm
Way of peeling an orange, sanguine
2024
Oil on canvas
16⅛ x 16⅛ in.
41 x 41 cm
Documentation by Iain Emaline