Otra Vox is pleased to present a new series of paintings by Brooklyn-based artist Amelia Carley. Thinking About Forgetting is based on Carley's practice of deriving memories from childhood of exploring western desert landscapes to construct a visual representation of an artificial place. 

The paintings on view depict an imagined land through toxically bright and otherworldly forms. Through layers of light and shadow, as if existing within different times of the day, the work considers how your environment can change almost immediately without being aware of the transition.

Carley's process starts with collecting debris from a rehabilitated landfill located in southeast Brooklyn's Glass Bottle Beach from trash washed up on its shores. It attracts glass debris so densely that the whole beach is full of remnants up to 100 years old, from full bottles to aged, smooth sea glass. Carley then constructs small models and, through several manipulations, translates trash into strange worlds on canvas. 

As we begin to understand our new anthropogenic reality, Carley questions the authenticity of her past (and future) experiences in nature. Hyper-saturated bright colors often associated with poison and toxicity in the natural world reference the earth's changing surface. Considering how we often experience nature through layers of mediation, these works contemplate where 'natural' and 'artificial' overlap through representations of fabricated environments.

Thinking About Forgetting will be on view online and in the gallery from May 21 to June 12, 2022. 
 

ABOUT AMELIA CARLEY
Amelia Carley's work engages with the interpretation of memories within a landscape and fictitious sites. Born and raised in Colorado, Carley received a BFA from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MFA from the Ernest G. Welch School of Art and Design at Georgia State University. She has participated in several Artist-in-Resident programs, including Vermont Studio Center and Atlantic Center for the Arts. Carley has exhibited at such venues as SOMArts (San Francisco, CA), Southampton Art Center (Southampton, NY), Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (Salt Lake City, UT), Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art (Boulder, CO), Day & Night Projects (Atlanta, GA), Galleries of Contemporary Art at University of Colorado (Colorado Springs, CO), Photographic Arts Center (Denver, CO), Camayhus Gallery (Atlanta, GA), Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, NY), Main Window Dumbo (Brooklyn, NY), and Paradice Palase (Brooklyn, NY). Amelia Carley currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. See more at ameliacarley.com.

ABOUT OTRA VOX
Located in downtown Los Angeles' Arts District, Otra Vox is a collective space for creative exchange. Through our artist residency, one-on-one artist development program, print shop, and gallery program, we nurture practicing artists and engage the public online and in-person through conversations, collaboration, patronage, and the spirit of community. Learn more at otravox.com.

Otra Vox is located at 1317 Palmetto Street Los Angeles, CA 90013.

Gallery hours: Thursday–Sunday, 1 pm–5 pm, or by appointment. 

Image: Amelia Carley, Uncertain Darkness (Glass Bottle Beach), 2021