Break It Up is a visual and tactile installation. Central to the installation is an animation filled with pulsating and bulging golden blobs that have been wrapped in translucent acrylic paint that Keys has created by manipulating documentation of her installations. This work is a further exploration of an animation exhibited at Gertrude Contemporary in 2015, on a much larger scale.
Karena Keys completed her Bachelor of Art (Visual) at the Canberra School of Art in 2005, and completed a Master of Fine Art at Sydney College of Arts in 2014. In 2008 she was the ACT recipient of the Qantas Contemporary Art Award, a prize that provided her practice with significant professional development. In 2012 she was the recipient of the CAPO London exhibition award. Keys has had numerous artist residencies including at Takt Kunstprojektraum, Berlin, Artspace Sydney, Canberra Contemporary Art Space (CCAS) and Fraser Street Studios, Sydney.
Keys has held solo exhibitions at TCB, Grantpirrie, CCAS Manuka and the Reading Room, London. She has been curated into exhibitions in the Netherlands, Sydney (Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Penrith Regional Gallery and the Lewers Bequest, Firtsdraft, Locksmith and Alaska Projects), Melbourne (Westspace), Tasmania (Sawtooth ARI) and Canberra (CCAS and Contour 556, 2016).