'KYLE' by Erin Calla Watson at Larder, Los Angeles

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. e prints show images sourced by Watson from /r/malelivingspace, a subreddit for men seeking inspiration on and uploading photos of their domestic spaces. e uploads, oen 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 uality reecting 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, oen giving them exaerated or stereotypical masculine ualities. Specically here, Watson references “Kyle”, typically characterized as an angry white male teenager. rough this, the artist suests that while the prints show us the intimate domestic spaces of particular individuals, they also reect the subredditters’ overlapping and insular lifestyle and aesthetic goals. 

Printed on aluminum, the images hold an almost velvety and liuid texture, their light source slightly shiing depending on where one stands when viewing them. In this way, Watson oers a congruity between the images, as well as connecting the 3D renderings to the real gallery space. is is further suested through the beige carpet and lighting installed in the gallery which mirrors xtures one might expect in an /r/malelivingspace home. 

In the gallery’s domestic space, Watson has installed a looping seuence 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 - oen 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. e work continues Watson’s exploration of the oen uncomfortable ualities characterizing the manosphere space - crass humor, indecency and masochism.