Photography by Evan Walsh, courtesy of the artist and Ehrlich Steinberg.
AGE: 32
BASED IN: Los Angeles
Erin Calla Watson’s debut solo exhibition in New York was the final show the gallery Foxy Production, which represented her, ever staged. For the exhibition, she manipulated 15 images from the catalogue of the famous 1975–76 show “New Topographics” by adding the likeness of Australian supermodel Jordan Barrett. The project was so well-reviewed that it set off a fresh round of hand-wringing over the gallery’s closure. Since then, Calla Watson has continued to create ambitious, ghostly images that pull from the dark corners of the internet—particularly the “manosphere”—to explore the aesthetics of the suburban gothic.
Describe your work in three words.
Dark, frigid, humorous.
Tell us about a teacher who changed the way you think about art.
Scott Grieger, and by proxy his wife, artist Alexis Smith, who recently passed away. Scott’s a storyteller, and his experiences of the wild art scenes in Los Angeles and New York during the ’70s–’90s make me feel like I lived it too. Scott is my chosen family and father figure, and has taught me how you can make a family in the art world if you are lucky enough to find the right people.
Imagine someone gives you $150,000 to make anything you want—no strings. What are you making?
I really don’t spend much money on my work—the printing can be expensive, but, when I hear $ 150,000 I just think it would be best to take space to think, research, and focus.
What’s an artwork you didn’t make, but wish you had?
A Bruce Nauman taxidermy sculpture.
Is there a studio rule you live by?
I judge my work by a rule of three. I ask myself: What is in conflict in the installation or within a discrete image? If only two things are opposing, then it’s boring and I know I need to find a third element.
What’s an underrated studio tool you can’t live without?
My dachshund, Agnes. She observes, judges, and approves of everything I do in the studio.
Who are the three people, alive or dead, invited to your dream art-world dinner party?
Lee Miller, Robert Pattinson, and the Marquis de Sade. Sounds messy.
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