David B. Smith Gallery is proud to present Cosmos by Laura Ball, the artist's fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. Featuring 18 new watercolor paintings, Ball's deep connection to the natural world, ancient religious and mystical traditions, and her dedication to ecological conservatorship come to the forefront. 
Throughout human history, there have been recurring themes linked to animism. Across disparate cultures, spanning millennia, metaphors reflecting the psyche and the dark reaches of the galaxy have been linked to beasts great and small. Tapping into the collective unconscious, Ball draws inspiration from the primordial, dreamlike state of mind that connects consciousness to the non-verbal, vast cosmos. In the eternal worlds that she creates, interlinking creatures draw strength from one another as they twist and flex in fantastical unison. 
Colossal tangled serpents, roaring tigers, and charging horses, many of which are critically endangered species, recur throughout works included in Cosmos. In her compositions, creatures ebb and swell, sometimes tearing into one another in their ferocious unending dance. While each work contains its own unique cultural references and spiritual meanings, themes such as the inner cosmos, gates and guardians, and the ouroboros are important thematic pillars in Cosmos. Through these metaphors a powerful rumination on existence and its infinite reach connect to this moment.
Within Ball's works there are moments of stillness met by surging forces. From conception to execution, each of her highly detailed compositions embody the weight of her intention, down to the use of pigments made of pulverized crystals, minerals, and precious metals. She states, "These new watercolors represent access points and maps to the primeval places we all have in common, a familiarity outside of logical explanation, as if connected to the mycelium of the universe." In the endless cycle of life and death there is beauty and potential, and in Cosmos, Laura Ball makes this exquisitely evident. 
Laura Ball's work combines her technical achievements in watercolor with an ongoing part-psychoanalytical, part-environmental project she has explored over the last ten years. A recipient of numerous awards and grants, Ball has exhibited in galleries across the United States and internationally. Her work is in important private and public collections, including recent additions to the Denver Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and 21c Museum. Ball received her MFA in 2004 from the University of California, Berkeley. lives and works in San Diego, California.

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