Karla Black is known for her expansive sculptures, which explore and demonstrate the power of materials, colors, and textures to provoke affective responses in the viewer – the artist has cited the object relations theory of Melanie Klein as a key influence. Black’s works often recall the aesthetics of the beauty industry in their textures and soft color palette and at times even incorporate actual cosmetic products, undermining the supposed distinction between precious and mundane materials. They also ­challenge the conservational logic of the institution in their ephemeral nature and use of decidedly non-archival materials, such as plaster powder, sugar paper, soil, and toothpaste. But for all its inherent criticality, Black’s work is also driven by a ­fascination with the materials she uses. The artist explicitly rejects gendered readings of her work that implicitly equate sensuality and fragility with femininity. In Black’s practice, ­delicacy is combined with raw material presence to create something more powerful and less sanitized than its proximity to beauty culture suggests. For TEXTE ZUR KUNST, Black has produced “For Use,” an edition that combines many of her works’ key qualities in a portable format. A series of hand towels, each with unique hand-printed coloring, the edition evokes the lush textures and colors of Black’s larger works while also carrying a similar threat or promise of impermanence – for as its title explicitly states, this object is intended to be not only looked at or touched but also used.