Kayla Mattes: Cat-astrophe | A Common Thread: Liv Aanrud, Jessica Campbell, Carly Glovinski, Michelle Grabner, Dinh Q. Lê.
2525 Michigan Ave., Santa Monica, CA 90404
Saturday, November 9 at 5:00 PM 7:00 PM
Ends Dec 21, 2019
In her first solo exhibition with Richard Heller Gallery, Kayla Mattes’ work explores chaos and crisis in the digital age by slowing it down through a tactile process that is structurally tied to the screen. Rather than adding pigmented material to a woven canvas or a secondary hidden surface, her tapestries embrace the narrative and technological history embedded in the act of materializing thread into the woven grid. In Cat-astrophe, the handwoven tapestries portray cats as unexpected spectators of ecological change. As mascots of the internet, cats have a powerful voice. Their disconcerting judgement can be felt through a glare, and their effortless virality has influence. Throughout the show, vibrant landscapes become crowded with symbols of urgency, distressed caution figures, and digital mess, while worried felines gather in packs, wailing for humanity's attention. The cats' position as social onlookers becomes multi-layered when analyzed through their cultural attachment to femininity, and humans' persistent dismissal of their fiery disposition. Instilled with jokes and visual fodder, the work uses humor as a tool to navigate environmental havoc. By continuing the tradition of archiving culture through the coded medium of tapestry weaving, Mattes uses labored cloth as a form of communication. The trees are burning, the tuna population is dwindling, and the cats are judging us for it. ---------- Richard Heller Gallery is proud to present A Common Thread featuring Liv Aanrud, Jessica Campbell, Carly Glovinski, Michelle Grabner, and Dinh Q. Lê.