Larassa Kabel in her studio with an in-progress drawing. Photo credit: Brittany Brooke Crow, 2021
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Artist Statement
As a contemporary momento mori artist, I create art to remind myself and others that we are all going to die. Me. You. Everyone you care about. This seems obvious, and yet the fear of death, which haunts the human race like nothing else, inspires us to go to great lengths to pretend it isn’t true. We all use intricate compartmentalization, determined distraction and heroic ego building to deflect our dread of non-existence. I find this fascinating. The greater the discomfort, the more complex and rich the subject, and the more I want to probe that uncomfortable spot. Because people usually prefer to pretend death doesn’t involve them, I use a of combination beauty, mystery and high levels of craft to lure them into a conversation between my art and their mortality. My work is slow and labor intensive, and I regard it as a form of meditation practice. I draw life-sized doomed horses dropping from great heights. I photograph myself tenderly touching the animal dead. I sculpt two-headed stags to show the conjoined twins Love and Loss and draw the eyes of dear ones that appear and disappear like magic, like ghosts. I have drawn dead fawns to explore the vulnerability of parenthood, and I painted my son as a drowned boy because I needed to understand the worst of what love has to offer. All of these works have brought me incredibly fulfilling and life-affirming engagements with strangers and friends. There is a deep thirst for conversations that are Real, and the purpose of momento mori is to be the catalyst for those conversations. This is how we remember our connection to each other and the world writ large. How bittersweet that life means more because it ends. We fear death, but we need death. Artist Bio
Exploring that which makes us most uncomfortable, Larassa Kabel regularly traverses the emotional and intellectual space between life and death, love and loss, the powerful and the powerless. Through the drawing, painting, performance and sculpture, she confronts our view of ourselves “outside of Nature” and our desire to distance ourselves from our mortality. Larassa Kabel was born in 1970 and received her BFA with honors in 1992 from Iowa State University with an emphasis in fibers. She currently lives in Des Moines, IA where she works as a full time artist and independent curator. She has received numerous grants and awards including an Iowa Arts Council Fellowship, and her work has been shown nationally and is in several corporate and private collections including the Des Moines Art Center, the White House and the World Food Prize. Larassa Kabel
larassak@gmail.com |
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GALLERIES
Moberg Gallery 2411 Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA 50312 (515) 279-9191 Weinberger Fine Art 114 Southwest Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64108 (816) 301-4428 |
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INTERVIEWS
900 Views with Pat Boddy Museum of Invisible Art with Brainard Carey dsm Culture Cast with Luke Manderfeld |
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2022 Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA: Sojourn, a solo exhibition
Figge Museum of Art, Davenport, IA: 42nd Annual Rock Island Artist Guild Show
Abel Contemporary, Stoughton, WI: Beautiful Fiction
Weinberger Fine Art, Kansas City, MO: The Life You've Seen
2021 Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: The Ghost at the Feast
Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, IA: 2021 Biennial Exhibition
2020 Weinberger Fine Art Gallery, Kansas City, KS: Sexhibition
Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, MN: The Beginning of Everything: An Exhibition of Drawings
2019 The Elephant in the Room, Des Moines Art Center
Weinberger Fine Art Gallery, Kansas City, KS: Beyond the Horizon
2018 Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: The Space Between
Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Winter Group Show
2017 The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO: Center Forward,
The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO: Photography as Response
The Residential, Des Moines, IA: Wild Beasts
Dubuque Museum of Art, Dubuque, IA: 2017 Biennial
50/50 Gallery, Kansas City, MO: Attach File
Black Box Gallery, Portland, OR: Taking Pictures
Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
2016 Moberg Gallery, Des Moines IA: UpSpeak
Weinberger Fine Arts, Kansas City, MO: Group Exhibition
Rare Art Gallery, Jackson Hole, WY: Group Exhibition
2015 The Mission Gallery, Chicago, IL, Solo Exhibition: Stag Park
2014 The Mission Gallery, Miami, FL: PROJECTS, Miami Basel
The Mission Gallery, Chicago, IL: Art EXPO
Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL: Head
Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
2013 SOHO 20, New York City, NY, Solo Exhibition: Boyfriend
Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Beyond Nature
The MISSION, Houston, TX: Group Exhibition
Visions West, Livingston, MT: Group Exhibition
2012 Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA: The Value of Drawing
Anderson Gallery, Bridgewater University, Bridgewater, MA: Animal Magnetism
2011 PEEL Gallery, Houston TX, Solo Exhibition: All This So Far From Heaven
2010 Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA, Solo Exhibition: Likely Stories
Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH: Bestiary
Bing-Davis Memorial Gallery, Upper Iowa University, Cedar Falls, IA: Transcending the Figure
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA: Iowa Artist
101 exhibit, The International Art Fair, Bridgehampton NY
ICON Gallery, Fairfield, IA: Large Works Show
2009 Des Moines Art Center Downtown, Des Moines, IA, Solo Exhibition: Iowa Artist
Fitch Studios, Des Moines, IA, Solo Exhibition: The Hazards of Love
Leedy-Voulkos Center for the Arts, Kansas City, MO: Group Exhibition
Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
ICON Gallery, Fairfield, IA: Contemporary Realism
2008 Fitch Studios, Des Moines, IA, Solo Exhibition: Who Am I When I Am Not Myself
Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Works on Paper
Emerald Gallery, Fairfield, IA: Group Exhibition
Jane360, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
EVAC Online Exhibition, Best in Show, juror Patricia Hickson, curator Des Moines Art Center
2007 EVAC Online Exhibition, Very Special Recognition Award, juror Jeff Fleming director Des Moines Art Center
2006 Karolyn Sherwood Gallery, Des Moines, IA, Solo Exhibition: The Thrilling Tweens
Emerald Gallery, Fairfield IA: Group Exhibition
Fitch Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Jane360 Momentum
Vesuvius Gallery, Glenn, MI: Nature Nurture
Heritage Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
Karolyn Sherwood Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
2005 Art House Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Solo Exhibition
2005 Emerald Gallery, Fairfield, IA: Group Exhibition
Jane360, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
Karolyn Sherwood Gallery, Des Moines, IA: Group Exhibition
Heritage Gallery, Des Moines, IA: 52 Pick Up
CURATORIAL
2018 The Space Between, Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA
2016 UPSpeak, Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA
2013 Beyond Nature, Moberg Gallery, Des Moines, IA
COMMISSIONS
2019 The Avenues public art commission, Des Moines, IA
2016 Greater Des Moines Public Art Foundation, Des Moines, IA
2012 President and Michelle Obama, Washington, DC: White House Christmas card
2011 World Food Prize, Des Moines, IA
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2020 Artist Grant, Iowa Arts Council
2019 Joan Mitchell Foundation nominee
2017 United States Artist Fellowship nominee
Design Achievement Award, Iowa State University Alumni Association
2016 Joan Mitchell Foundation nominee
David Hurd Innovator in the Arts Award
2015 Artist Fellowship, Iowa Arts Council
2010 Artist Grant, Iowa Arts Council
2008 Artist Grant, Iowa Arts Council
2007 Artist Grant, Iowa Arts Council
2006 Artist Grant, Iowa Arts Council
COLLECTIONS
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA
Figge Museum of Art, Davenport, IA
Aviva Corporate Collection, Des Moines, IA
Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Corporate Collection, Des Moines, IA
World Food Prize, Des Moines, IA
Bankers Trust Corporate Collection, Des Moines, IA
PUBLICATIONS
Killing It, Jennifer L. Knox, Copper Canyon Press, 2020
Dear Animal, MK Chavez, Nomadic Press, 2016
Domus Magazine Mille Issue, Milan, Italy, March, 2016
Juxtapoz - Wild, 2015
Juxtapoz Magazine, December, 2015
Geceyi Burada Becirecegiz, Melisa Kesmez, SEL Press, 2013