SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- On August 5, 2015, in an effort to clean up the Gold King Mine on the bank of the Animas River in Southwestern Colorado, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) accidentally destroyed a dam, spilling three million gallons of yellow lead-contaminated mine wastewater into Cement Creek, inadvertently polluting water sources in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah, and adversely affecting the water supply of thousands of people.

Los Angeles-based artist Kevin Cooley, in his solo show commissioned by YBCA, presents Kevin Cooley: Golden Prospects, which features two multi-channel video installations that physically interrupt YBCA’s terrace landing space. Using footage taken after the contamination of nearby rivers and the surrounding landscape, Cooley blurs the line between the natural and the environmentally harmful. In the installation, the water moves from monitor to monitor, metaphorically downstream and into the water supply for millions of people across the West.

“Kevin has a long history of creating work that explores humanity’s relationship with nature. Golden Prospects marks the first time he has responded directly to a specific event,” Adds Susie Kantor, curatorial assistant. “The exhibition is extremely timely; as we head from severe drought to possible monster El Niño, we cannot help but think about and be conscious of our daily water usage. However, I don't think we always consider the sources of our water, and what it takes to get it here, and what happens if that source is contaminated.”

With Golden Prospects, Cooley points to the difficulties of distinguishing between what is natural and what is caused by human interference, asking us to question whether, and how, to trust the sources that nurture and sustain us. The exhibit is part of an ongoing series of works titled Water Rites by Cooley that explore the water sources of Los Angeles, and which was first presented in his exhibition Fallen Water (2015) at Catharine Clark Gallery. As a whole, the series forces us to consider our most precious resources, and to reconcile our current actions with our future world.

Animas River Spill Statistics

• 3 million: number of gallons of heavy metal-filled wastewater spilled

• 12,000: how many times higher than normal the level of lead in one water sample from the Animas River after the spill

• 3: the number of states affected by the spill – Colorado, New Mexico, Utah

• 2: the number of rivers affected by the spill – the Animas River in Colorado and the San Juan River in New Mexico

• 45,000: population of the largest town affected by the spill – Farmington, New Mexico. Other areas hard hit are Durango, Colorado and the Navajo community around the town of Shiprock

• 90: how many days of water reserves Farmington had before it needed to draw river water

• 500,000: estimated number of mines similar to the Gold King Mine that Earthworks says need to be cleaned up, with some of them possibly leaking waste into nearby groundwater

The Los Angeles-based artist Kevin Cooley (b. 1975, Los Angeles) explores the relationship humans have to nature through photography, video and multi-media installations. He frequently uses light and color, mobilizing both natural and man-made sources to create luminous scenarios that highlight our small place in a vast world, as well as humanity’s near-constant need to conquer our surroundings. He plays with the medium of video, building sculptural installations that envelop the viewer, and subtly reframing our experiences of the world around us.

Cooley has had solo exhibitions at Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco (2015); Pierogi Gallery, Brooklyn (2015 and 2014); RYAN LEE Gallery, New York (2015); the Nevada Museum of Art, Reno (2014–15); Disjecta Contemporary Art Center, Portland, Oregon (2014); Sonoma State University Art Gallery, Rohnert Park, California (2014); Kopeikin Gallery, Los Angeles (2014 and 2012); the Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego (2013); and the Boiler, Brooklyn (2013); among others. He has been featured in group exhibitions at Kopeikin Gallery (2015); the Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, New York (2014–15); the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (2013); Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, Michigan (2013); Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco (2013); and Union Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (2013); among others. He has had residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts (2013); the Arctic Circle Expeditionary Residency (2011); the Grand Canyon National Park AIR program (2010); the Caldera Artist in Residence program (2010); the Herhusid Artist Residency, Siglufjordur, Iceland (2008); the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workplace Artist in Residence (2006–7); and the Cité Internationale des Arts residency, Paris (2003). Cooley holds an MFA in photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York (2000) and a BA in international affairs from Lewis and Clark College (1997).