Larassa Kabel in her studio with an in-progress drawing. Photo credit: Brittany Brooke Crow, 2021

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

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

INTERVIEWS
900 Views with Pat Boddy 
Museum of Invisible Art with Brainard Carey
dsm Culture Cast with Luke Manderfeld

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
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
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