Morgan Lehman is pleased to present Endlings, an exhibition of new watercolors by Laura Ball. This will be the artist’s fourth solo show with the gallery.
In this series of watercolors, Ball has turned her eye to endangered and extinct animals with her focus on endlings – the very last of a species. Endlings exist alone, left behind as a remnant of their disappeared forefathers. While some endlings live out their last years in captivity, many more pass through life unseen and undocumented. Once gone from the world, they, and all like them, will exist only in dreams as subliminal expressions. Ball’s watercolors act as a symbolic ark where the extinct animals can find refuge in the primordial jungle of the collective subconscious.
The creatures populating Ball’s watercolors emerge from the psyche as surging masses of life, death, and subconscious urges. Composed of plant and animal parts that seem held together magnetically or through a magical willpower, the animals function as complete beings. The creatures appear to act on the instincts we routinely repress and can be seen as a manifestation of a dark, often veiled side of humanity. Ball’s precise technique and refined mastery of her medium are evident in the shifts from control to fluidity – from the tightest line to an airy swath of color that together create the constantly morphing endlings, all continuously moving forward in their ultimate landscapes.
Laura Ball earned her MFA from UC Berkeley in 2004. Her work has been shown at David B. Smith Gallery (Denver, CO), Second Street Gallery (Charlottesville, VA), Paul Kopeikan (Los Angeles, CA), Royal West of Englad Academy (Bristol, UK), Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina (Florence, Italy), and the US Embassy, Stockholm. Her work sits in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA), Denver Art Museum (CO), JP Morgan Chase (NY), The Cleveland Clinic (OH), and the 21C Museum (Louisville, KY). Laura’s work has been included in publications such as Juxtapoz, Harper’s Magazine, WIRED, Art Collector Magazine, and Art in America. Ball lives and works in San Diego, CA.