Kayla Mattes (b. 1989, USA) archives the ephemerality 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 solo exhibitions at Charlie James Gallery, (Los Angeles), Eli & Edythe Broad Museum (Michigan), Asia Art Center (Taipei), Richard Heller Gallery (Los Angeles), and California Center for the Arts Museum (Escondido, CA). Recent group exhibitions include Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (Melbourne, AU), Benton Museum of Art (Pomona, CA), and Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (Portland, OR). Mattes’ work can be found in the permanent collections of Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Crocker Art Museum, Eli & Edythe Broad Museum, and The Bunker Artspace. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Guardian, Artnet, and New American Paintings; her work is profiled in the 2018 book, Weaving: Contemporary Makers on the Loom, and Loop, Hook, Loom a book published in 2026 featuring the work of contemporary textile artists. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA , and teaches weaving in the Fibers department at California State University, Long Beach.
email: studio@kaylamattes.com
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