KELLY WALL

Press Release:

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    When “city” converges with “backcountry,” what happens? Industry teams up with LA-based sculptor and performance artist, Kelly Wall for her first solo exhibition titled “The Last Thing You’ll Ever See: White Lightning, Woven Satellites, and Man-made Stars”, exploring this overlap and its unique presence in the city of angels. 

    For those born in the city and left to seek nature, the quickest fix can come by simply looking upwards. If you can find a view void of phone lines, it becomes possible to temporarily escape your surroundings. Unfortunately, these faded skies leave little to engage with and soon after identifying “go to” constellations, equally bright yet eerily drifting stars take attention, leaving one to wonder: what are stars and what are satellites? 

    Earth's orbit is filled with technology that frequently retires, left floating and forgotten in space. They flicker the little light left from a life that once was, concealing themselves in constellations as faux stars. Simultaneously, Los Angeles’ second-hand stores host shelves filled of forgotten items, lost from memory, awaiting to be re-distributed into circulation. At times this manufactured clutter can overwhelm the city dweller and cause them to engage in activities associated with “backcountry” in order to experience nature in the city. This reaction can be revealed in a rediscovering of hand-made creations, those now “exotic” and associated with the non-urban, and in “The Last Thing You'll Ever See..” taking the form of moonshine. In a city of extremes it makes sense that the “back country” lifestyle is taken to the most extreme, in order to keep up with its metropolitan surroundings. What embodies this more than a hand-made drink that can cause blindness?

    With the infusion of “backcountry” into city life, a warped love child of the two comes into creation. Tents, camping, endless glowing lights, home-made vs store-bought, distillations vs constellations, these staples have become both cherished and foreign. The satellites here, painted on hand-made blankets, correspond to satellites visible over Los Angeles on any given night. As the series progresses famous satellites turn to retired ones, and the primary function of these objects shifts from functional to aesthetic. “The Last Thing You'll Ever See: White Lightning, Woven Satellites, and Man-made Stars” twists the ordinary and sheds light on the unnoticed, causing one to ask: What are the last things we’ll ever see? The stars? Or the junk we surround ourselves with?