To create his monumental collage works, Yashua Klos begins by carefully hand-carving woodblocks, which he then uses to print the unique textures and figures that anchor his arresting compositions. Subtle and striking at once, these elements come together in expansive figurative and abstract works that also incorporate materials such as Japanese rice paper, acrylic paint, colored pencils, and fabric dyes. Through this layered approach, Klos explores ideas of Blackness from a deeply personal perspective: one shaped by his family’s migration history, his upbringing on Chicago’s South Side, and his enduring belief that identity is a continuously evolving matter.

“My earliest sense of identity was that of a drawer. As I matured and realized drawing was integral to my mental health and wellness, I knew I’d have to dedicate my life to keeping art at the center of it,” Klos says. Raised by a single mother, the artist reconnected with his father’s side of the family through a DNA test later in life—an experience that greatly influenced his artistic practice. Portraits of his many relatives appear frequently throughout his work.

During his time at Fountainhead, the breadth of Klos’s practice was fully on view: a large carved woodblock laid out across a table, sheets of rice paper scattered across the studio floor, and walls lined with work in-progress and photographs of family members, a vivid map of the artist’s ongoing inquiries that in many ways remain connected to his early interest in drawing. “Woodblock printing is so raw, filled with the kinetic energy of carving. It’s an extension of my drawing hand,” he explains. “The gesture of the gouge is the same as that of a drawing implement, though I’m subtracting the line rather than adding it. Every time I carve a block, I feel like I’m etching my ideas into a rich political tradition.”