Sightings: Kevin Cooley and Jessica Mallios

November 21 – January 4, 2015
Photos by Karlye Golub and Evan La Londe

Sightings is an exhibition of recent video works by Kevin Cooley and Jessica Mallios. Both artists explore spatial dynamics through movement while utilizing a singular point of view to present new perspectives. By adopting cinematic tools, such as tracking and looping, to highlight objects and everyday experiences, Cooley and Mallios challenge what we see and how we perceive our surroundings.

The exhibition highlights the artists’ mutual interest in the physical and conceptual functions of the camera, creating a mirrored study of subject, process and composition.

Cooley’s installation, Skyward, employs the point of view of a passenger in a convertible gazing at the sky. Projected overhead as the audience lies beneath it, the video follows the skyline as a car drives from downtown Los Angeles to the ocean —effectively capturing a constructed L.A. experience that is simultaneously mundane and enjoyable. Mallios’ video, Rhombus, utilizes shifting perspectives to examine the uncertainty of captured images. Together, these works disrupt concepts of space, replacing a normative viewing experience with an abstracted perspective and challenging our ability to frame the world around us.

The two additional works in the exhibition explore the cyclical qualities of the constructed and natural worlds. Mallios’ Tower of the Americas pays homage to the history of the Steadicam and the panoramic image with a 61-minute video filmed atop a rotating observation tower in San Antonio. In A Thousand Miles an Hour, Cooley captures the sun and the moon using an astronomical tracking system. In the subsequent synchronized two-channel video the sun and moon remain steady, opposite our typical daily encounters. While each artists’ cameras are focused on distinct subject matter, they both highlight systems of repetition and renewal in relation to human perception.

Conceptually, both Cooley and Mallios consider our evolving relationship with technology and the natural cycles that humans surrender to on a daily basis. Ultimately, these works are a meditation on consciousness and our relationship with natural and manmade forces.

Public Program

November 23rd at 2pm
Inspired by the new perspectives that Cooley and Mallios provide in their video works, Portland-based artist Khris Soden will lead a walking tour through the Kenton neighborhood. Meet at Disjecta to participate. Free and open to the public.

Kevin Cooley (b. 1975) lives and works in Los Angeles. He holds an MFA in photography from the School of the Visual Arts in New York, and a BA in International Affairs from Lewis and Clark College. Select exhibitions include White Columns; Massimo Audiello, NY; Kopeikin Gallery and Young Projects in L.A. His work is included in a number of private and public collections including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Harvard Business School’s Schwartz Art Collection. Cooley has held several artist-in-residency positions including the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency Program, the Grand Canyon National Park Artist-in-Residency, Herhusid Artist Residency in Iceland, and Cite Internationale des Arts Residency in Paris.

Jessica Mallios (b. 1976) lives and works in Austin. She holds an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College and a BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Her work has been presented in many solo and group exhibitions including the Digital Media Gallery at Lycoming College; the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin; the Torrance Art Museum; and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. She was recently a resident at Artpace San Antonio and she is currently Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at Texas State University.