Yashua Klos is best known for his large-scale collage works which address issues of identity, race, memory and community. Influenced by his upbringing in Chicago’s South Side, Klos challenges the construction and conventions of African-American identity. Notions of marginalisation, masculinity, and urban mythology are unpacked by examining behaviours within these communities. He uses portraiture to highlight narratives of suppression, denial, and pain associated with the vulnerability experienced in black communities and pins this against stoic performances of adaptation and thriving.
Recent exhibitions include In Plain Sight, Opa Locka Art Arts and Recreation Center, Florida and the Draw 2014 Symposium at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh. Klos has been awarded residencies at Skowhegan, the Vermont Studio Center and Bemis. He is the recipient of a 2014 Joan Mitchell Fellowship and a 2015 NYFA Grant.