Kevin Yates presents a new body of sculptural work that return to themes of the mirrored object and the double. Utilizing domestic items such as flashlights, dressers, figurines, flowers and burnt matches, Yates creates uncanny, and at times unsettling, sculptural installations. Consistent throughout his oeuvre is an interest in deconstructing the notion of knowing-through-seeing, as a means of engaging mystery, memory and imagination. Drawing attention to objects that are often disregarded, Yates questions how shifting use-value permits a way of reimagining purpose or imbuing new forms of memory. A series of dressers will be presented stacked and inverted with an interior littoral zone containing bronze cast objects. In addition a series of flickering bronze-cast flashlights will create a warm glow, akin to a fireplace. Atmospherically, Yates alludes to a domestic setting flipped upside down. Encouraging the viewer to read the opposite of what is commonly understood, Yates asks his viewer to unearth familiar senses of containment and comfort, that when inverted, can become exact opposites.
Image credit: courtesy the artist and Susan Hobbs Gallery
