As an omnipresent symbol across the history of humanity, the ocean assumes many roles. It is a healing force, and is immensely destructive; it is divine and earthly. The ocean encompasses the myriad of natural and mystical forces which have captivated our imagination as a species ad infinitum, inspiring visions of deities and monsters alike. “Obsidian Butterfly,” the newest show from Camille Rose Garcia on view at KP Projects, encapsulates the depths of the ocean and our connection to it.

For the past year, Garcia’s work has centered on the ocean as the Pacific became a refuge for her after being evacuated from Northern California during the wildfires. Across twelve works on panels (often adorned with driftwood) and fourteen smaller works on paper, Garcia draws on this experience to explore the shamanic and healing properties of the ocean. In her brightly colored paintings, Garcia often personifies the ocean as a healer/goddess figure, adorned with shells and sea stars.

In the titular work, Obsidian Butterfly (2021), we see one such goddess archetype articulated in Garcia’s signature style. The macabre, black-teared woman evokes the dualistic symbolism that the ocean itself evokes. While herself appearing as a kind of witch, gesturing out a spell with a wave of her hand, the warm, almost neon, palette is inviting and enticing – a sirens call. This sunburst scene is encircled by a vignette ocean floors and jungle vines, as if peering through a portal to another world.

One of the most striking works, Serpents of the Abyss (2021), again utilizes the sea-witch figures, this time in accompanying roles. They pick up instruments constructed of sea shells to announce your arrival to yet another realm, this one far ominous. A cave – or perhaps a maw – shrouds a spiny conch shell, which in turn has its own secrets. The entrance, however, is guarded by four identical serpent heads – the hydra. Smoke billows from their eyes and creates a psychedelic haze, one where the line between enchantment and peril is inexorably blurred.

Above all else, “Obsidian Butterfly” – and in fact, the entire oeuvre of Garcia’s career – is as aesthetically appealing as it is deeply rooted in the collective history of the symbols of our world, both natural and supernatural.

KP Projects
633 N. La Brea Ave.
Los Angeles, California 90036
Thru Oct. 9th, 2021