Kevin Cooley: Golden Prospects

“The whole history of humanity could be framed within our relationship with nature”—Kevin Cooley

​​​On August 5, 2015 an old mine on the bank of the Animas River in Southwestern Colorado sprung a massive leak, spilling 3 million gallons of orange, lead-contaminated water into the river, and affecting the water supply of thousands of people.

In his solo exhibition at YBCA, Los Angeles-based artist Kevin Cooley takes the recent disaster at the Animas River as his starting point; using video of the contaminated river and rocks taken from near the site, he blurs the lines between the natural and the environmentally harmful. Like the mountain landscape that was forever altered by mining, YBCA's unique Terrace Landing space will be physically interrupted by a multi-screen video installation, as the water moves from monitor to monitor, metaphorically downstream and into the water supply for millions of people across the West.