Creator's BIO
Karen Justl is an illustrator that is fascinated by the neuroscience of facial expression and emotion. She holds a Masters of Design from the Ontario College of Art and Design University in Toronto and a BFA Honors in painting from The University of Manitoba.
Her illustrations have been published in magazines across Canada, including The Mark, subTerrain, Herizons, Pilot Project and Crow's Toes. She has indulged in a series of self-published and collaborative illustration work including the striking, Art Slut Comix, 1992; Pear Comix, 1993 and; The Bird (cage), 2009. In 1992/93 her comix traveled around Canada in a Fantagraphics show called Misfit Lit. Her series People and Their Problems won a prize and made an appearance in Applied Art magazine in 2009. Her work is showcased in Broken Pencil's folio section for the Canzine Issue, October, 2010. In March 2011 her illustrations will be featured in subTerrain and Pilot Project. She is currently working on a book of door knockers and mug-shots in Florence, Italy titled, How Woeful due out in 2012.
She is conducting her illustrative research in caricature, facial expression, body language, stand-offs, and confrontation. The Dolls in The Playgound is a Jungian sandbox of an installation. It presents dolls, figurines, paintings and set pieces in the context of a tableau vivant *.
*A tableau vivant, or living picture, is a form of theater, prevalent during the 18th and 19th centuries. It is a ‘picture’ formed by living persons suspended in static attitudes. The silent movie genre was a direct offspring from the tableau vivant.
