Kembra Pfahler: The Voluptuous Karen Black at MFTA

Join us at the Materials for the Arts warehouse on Thursday, June 18, from 6:30 to 8:30pm for performance by New York City icon Kembra Pfahler and her band, The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, as well as new work on piano by Jacob Madden. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a book signing of the newly-released photographic retrospective “Kembra Pfahler” published by Rizzoli New York.

Thursday, June 18 | 6:30 — 8:30pm
At the Materials for the Arts warehouse
3300 Northern Blvd., 3rd fl
Long Island City, NY 11101

Kembra Pfahler. Photo courtesy of Sam Urdang.

About Kembra Pfahler
Kembra Pfahler has terrorized and tantalized audiences since her arrival in the Lower East Side in the early 1980s. In the 1990s, she launched The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black, a rock band associated with Kiss, Alice Cooper, and White Zombie. Covered in paint, with blackened teeth and bouffant hair, Pfahler developed a reputation for wild performance that reached far beyond the Lower East Side. Elements of Kabuki theater, surfing, bugs, and giant sharks from her legendary shows were later repurposed for performance art.

Through teaching, activism, and performance art, Pfahler serves as a mentor to students, and in recent years, a muse to designers. Throughout her work, Pfahler has remained connected with MFTA, frequenting the warehouse as a source for materials that inform her practice.

Jacob Madden. Photo courtesy of Tess Petronio.

About Jacob Madden
Jacob Madden is an artist and musician based in New York City. With a primary background in classical piano and composition, Madden creates compositions and performances that communicate his experiences of love and heartbreak. His first large-scale work was a solo piano ballet created for Anne Imhof’s Doom at Park Avenue Armory, and his future projects continue this interdisciplinary approach through collaboration and the reimagining of classical forms.