Marilynn Gelfman Karp

Biography

Marilynn Karp is a sculptor whose mixed media, found object works are represented in collections nationally and abroad. She holds a doctorate in physics and aesthetics and has taught art and material culture at New York University for 42 years. Karp is the author of In Flagrante Collecto: Caught in the Act of Collecting (Abrams 2006) as well as the forthcoming book Uncorked: A Corkscrew Collection (Abbeville 2020). She has given interviews, presented papers, and appeared on panels at museums and universities on various topics within the purview of collecting. She is the president of the Anonymous Arts Recovery Society, and a trustee and board member of the Preservation League of New York State. Karp divides her time between her New York City studio and a farmhouse in upstate New York.


“Immersed in the rural landscape, I found miraculously enlightening instances of the mergence of the natural and the manmade by birds and insects. This has informed and adapted my eye to the bird’s eye view and the wasp’s stunning utilization of architecture and utility meters as habitats. I now play their game with their abandoned nests and turn the tables to invent what they might have done in different times and places. As an avid observer of material culture, my sculptures suggest that the impetus to acquire, organize, and integrate is proof that the hunter-gatherer instinct is alive and well.”
- Marilynn Karp
 

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