Kevin Cooley is a visual artist working in photography, video, and public installation. His work examines the interaction between the natural environment and the one that we fabricate. He makes use of unusual or overlooked moments in everyday life as meditation on our evolving relationship with technology, nature, and ultimately with each other.
take refuge features a new series of photographs and videos by Kevin Cooley evoking human struggles in the harsh and unforgiving, yet sublime natural world. This body of work was created in disparate locations throughout the American West and the Arctic territory of Spitsbergen, as well in more ordinary places such as New York City and Los Angeles. Referencing the Romantic movement in art and literature, the work attests to both the fear and longing nature inspires.
Human interventions and presence in Cooley’s landscapes range from the rudimentary actions of building fires, marking a path in a snowy landscape, and taking shelter in caves to more sophisticated circumstances such as the flight patterns of commercial aircraft, an attempt to haul an iceberg away from a glacier, and a very powerful scientific laser beam piecing into the night sky. The Classical forces of nature (earth, fire, wind, water), are presented in contention with one another, or against a human figure, alluding to our physical and psychological attempts to understand our position in the universe and the obsession with exploring, conquering, and ultimately controlling it. Cooley reminds us that despite our tumultuous relationship with nature, it has always been our ultimate sanctuary.
Kopeikin Gallery
2766 S. La Cienega Blvd.
Culver City, CA. 90034
(310) 559-0800 te
