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Karen LaMonte:
Floating World Throughout her career LaMonte has used clothing as a metaphor and as a way to explore the
August 11–September 24, 2017 meaning—the artist then spent six years researching and working in the studio to complete
human body without depicting the human body. In 2007 LaMonte spent seven months in
Kyoto on a fellowship through the Japan-United States Friendship Commission. Studying all
aspects of kimono production—from weaving to construction, function, rituals, and
her Floating World project.
Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries
A direct result of the time in Japan was her desire to make the sculptures in ceramic. To work
life-size and include details of fabric texture, stitching, and complex undercuts, completely
new technologies were required. LaMonte achieved this during two extended research and
development residencies at the European Ceramics Work Center in Den Bosch, Netherlands.
The cast-glass sculptures are fabricated at foundries in the Czech Republic and take one year
to complete—two months of which is simply annealing in the kiln. The bronze and rusted
iron sculptures are cast in Italy.
For her previous work depicting Western clothing, LaMonte worked with live models. For the
kimono pieces, she built a mannequin based on biometric data. She selected the measurements
for the 50th percentile of 40-year-old Japanese women in the year 2000. LaMonte says the
mannequin is the exact average Japanese female; the exact everywoman or no-woman.
Karen LaMonte (American, b. 1967, active in Czech
Republic), Chado, 2010, ceramic, 36 ½ x 31 x 33 ½ in.,
courtesy of the artist and Austin Art Projects