Kelly Wall

Props, displays, and souvenirs have fascinated Kelly Wall since her childhood in Los Angeles. Her highly crafted versions of these forms prompt reflections on how we perceive an object’s function, why we try to hold on to experiences, and how we memorialize what we’ve lost. For Something to Write Home About, the artist created swatches of glass corresponding to the hues of Los Angeles sunsets—forever photographed, never fully captured— displayed as abstracted postcards on racks from a now-shuttered pharmacy. In Wistful Thinking, her custom penny press outputs the classic flattened tokens but with more ambiguous messages, including “You Are Here.” Visitors might throw these coins into a nearby fountain, whose bubbling water spills down stacks of souvenir-style mugs. For Wall, these camouflaged props and placeless souvenirs point to the slippery notion of “here” in a city built on the tourism and movie industries and perpetually threatened by environmental disasters.

Kelly Wall was born in 1990 in Los Angeles. With a recent focus on stained glass, Wall creates meticulously crafted sculptures that resemble nostalgic, mass-produced objects such as ashtrays, beach chairs, and souvenir mugs. Solo exhibitions include Various Small Fires, Los Angeles (2024); New Low, Los Angeles (2023, 2021); California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA (2019); and Industry Gallery, West Hollywood, CA (2016). Recent group exhibitions include OCHI Gallery, Los Angeles (2025); Noon Projects, Los Angeles (2025); Pio Pico, Los Angeles (2025, 2023); Wolford House, Los Angeles (2025); Alabaster Projects, Los Angeles (2024); The Hole, Los Angeles (2024); Chez Max et Dorothea, Los Angeles (2023); Praz-Delavallade, Los Angeles (2022); Aspen Art Museum, CO (2022, 2021); Human Resources, Los Angeles (2019); JOAN, Los Angeles (2019); and François Ghebaly, Los Angeles (2018). Wall earned a BFA from Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles (2013), and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA (2019).