Erin Calla Watson

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Erin Calla Watson
KYLE

February 12 - April 8 2022
Opening: Friday February 11 6-9pm

Larder is pleased to present its inaugural exhibition KYLE by Los Angeles based artist, Erin Calla Watson. KYLE centers around a new series of aluminum prints by the artist. The prints show images sourced by Watson from /r/malelivingspace, a subreddit for men seeking inspiration on and uploading photos of their domestic spaces. The uploads, often showing pared back environments such as monochrome furniture and gaming set-ups, point to the users’ shared views on what constitutes an appropriate male living space. Reconstituting the images as 3D renders, Watson’s prints hold both a dreamlike and hyper-real quality reflecting the subreddit’s duality between ideal and base male living.

The exhibition’s title takes its name from online meme subcultures which parody various ‘manosphere’ characters, often giving them exaggerated or stereotypical masculine qualities. Specifically here, Watson references “Kyle”, typically characterized as an angry white male teenager. Through this, the artist suggests that while the prints show us the intimate domestic spaces of particular individuals, they also reflect the subredditters’ overlapping and insular lifestyle and aesthetic goals.

Printed on aluminum, the images hold an almost velvety and liquid texture, their lightsource slightly shifting depending on where one stands when viewing them. In this way, Watson offers a congruity between the images, as well as connecting the 3D renderings to the real gallery space. This is further suggested through the beige carpet and lighting installed in the gallery which mirrors fixtures one might expect in an /r/malelivingspace home.

In the gallery’s domestic space, Watson has installed a looping sequence of painted ‘Calvins’ along the bottom of the walls. When seen on the bumpers of people’s cars, Calvin decals are usually positioned peeing on another - often political - image or statement, indicating the car owner’s comical disdain for what is being peed on. Here, the artist re-routes Calvin’s intended targets to instead endlessly pee on himself. The work continues Watson’s exploration of the often uncomfortable qualities characterizing the manosphere space - crass humor, indecency and masochism.

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Erin Calla Watson (b. 1993, Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Watson received a BFA from Otis College of Art and Design (2016) and is an MFA candidate at CalArts (2023). Her work has been presented in exhibitions at Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles; Real Pain, Los Angeles and As It Stands, Los Angeles.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE, 2022. Installation shot.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE, 2022. Installation shot.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (Comforter), 2022. Direct-to-substrate print on aluminium. 26 x 38 inches.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE, 2022. Installation shot.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (Cheerios), 2022. Direct-to-substrate print on aluminium. 26 x 34 inches.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (Transformer), 2022. Direct-to-substrate print on aluminium. 26 x 35 inches.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (USPS), 2022. Direct-to-substrate print on aluminium. 26 x 35 inches.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (Lawn), 2022. Direct-to-substrate print on aluminium. 26 x 34 inches.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (Airfryer), 2022. Direct-to-substrate print on aluminium. 26 x 36 inches.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE, 2022. Installation shot.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (Ergonomics), 2022. Direct-to-substrate print on aluminium. 26 x 35 inches.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE, 2022. Installation shot.

Erin Calla Watson, KYLE (Calvin), 2022. Paint on wall. Dimensions variable.

Photos: Evan Walsh