photo: Raymond Molinar
Kayla Mattes (b. 1989, USA) archives the ephemeral vernacular of digital culture through the interconnected threads of tapestry weaving. Her handwoven tapestries embrace the narrative and technological history embedded in the act of materializing thread into the woven grid. Driven by meme-culture, current events, and the chaos of our digital lives, her work weaves together narratives that simultaneously act as jokes and social commentary.
Mattes received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 and her MFA from University of California Santa Barbara in 2019. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including Eli & Edythe Broad Museum (Michigan), Charlie James Gallery, (Los Angeles), Asia Art Center (Taipei and Beijing), Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Portland, OR), Torrance Art Museum (California), Richard Heller Gallery (Los Angeles), and Collaborations (Copenhagen). Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, i-D, It’s Nice That, and she is one of twenty weavers included in the 2018 book, Weaving: Contemporary Makers on the Loom. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
studio@kaylamattes.com