Yerba Buena Center

Kevin Cooley

Golden Prospects

18 Dec 2015 - 03 Apr 2016

Golden Prospects: River (detail view), 2015 Multi Channel Video And Rock Installation © Courtesy the artist, Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco and Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles.
KEVIN COOLEY
Golden Prospects
18 December 2015 - 3rd April 2016

“The whole history of humanity could be framed within our relationship with nature”—Kevin Cooley

On August 5, 2015 an old mine on the bank of the Animas River in Southwestern Colorado sprung a massive leak, spilling 3 million gallons of orange, lead-contaminated water into the river, and affecting the water supply of thousands of people.

In his solo exhibition at YBCA, Los Angeles-based artist Kevin Cooley takes the recent disaster at the Animas River as his starting point; using video of the contaminated river and rocks taken from near the site, he blurs the lines between the natural and the environmentally harmful. Like the mountain landscape that was forever altered by mining, YBCA's unique Terrace Landing space will be physically interrupted by a multi-screen video installation, as the water moves from monitor to monitor, metaphorically downstream and into the water supply for millions of people across the West.