ROCKLAND, ME.- The Center for Maine Contemporary Art is presenting the first Maine solo exhibition of Kyle Downs, From the Collection of Lord Red. Downs presents wall sculptures made from strips of discarded basketballs, referencing post-production practices, pop culture, and the psychology of collecting.

Kyle Downs is a sportsman, and to see his basketball-strip tapestries, one might guess that his sport of choice is basketball. In truth, Downs channels his athleticism through the thrill of the hunt, searching junk shops and flea markets for sturdy materials, rare records, and surprising objects with unlikely surfaces. Downs relishes the heightened state of intentional searching and the discovery of diamonds in the rough, reframing collecting as an act of material obsession to a more wholesome meditation on the quality of attention and honoring craft. Through dedicated hours of careful cutting, gluing, and rearranging, Downs transforms the recognizable object of a basketball, remixing a known cultural signifier into something surprising and new.

The artworks on view comprise three parallel series that each inform the next. The largest pieces are patterned, symmetrical abstractions that reference sacred geometry. The accompanying smaller works give further context to Downs’ worldview, adding humor and additional cultural references to the mix. In the pieces that Downs refers to as “flowers,” a single basketball is dissected & reassembled into cartoonish floral shapes, sporting uneven petal-like edges and a contrasting-color snaking line. Lastly, a series of “baseball cards,” feature cameos of male baseball players made from rubber basketball “pixels.” The wryness of the baseball cards contrasts the formality of the larger works, while simultaneously speaking to the work of collecting as an integral part of Downs’ creative process.

Kyle Downs is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice occupies a broad spectrum – from sculpture and video, to performance and installation. Often focusing on the manipulation of existing objects or the physical occupation of a space, Kyle’s work is a reaction to his direct environment. Downs was born in Brunswick, Maine, and received his BFA from Maine College of Art & Design. He has an MFA in Sculpture from the Ohio State University, and attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine in 2014. Downs has taught classes at The School of the Alternative in Black Mountain, NC, Columbus College of Art and Design, OH, and Denison University in Granville, OH. Downs currently lives and works in Bowdoinham, ME with his family.

Tessa Greene O’Brien is an artist & curator based in South Portland, ME. She received a BS in Fine Art from Skidmore College and an MFA from Maine College of Art & Design. O'Brien has exhibited nationally, including recent shows at Platform Project Space, Brooklyn, NY; Vardan Gallery, Los Angeles; Dowling Walsh, ME; Buoy Gallery, ME; Sears Peyton Gallery, New York; Studio E Gallery, Seattle; and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. In 2022 she was a Residential Fellow at The Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College. Other residencies include Surf Point, Tides Institute, Monson Arts, Haystack, Hewnoaks, Vermont Studio Center, Annex Arts, and Stephen Pace House. Grants and awards include the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, Ellis Beauregard Foundation, Maine Arts Commission, Joseph. A. Fiore Painting Prize, St. Botolph Emerging Artist Award, and the Kindling Fund at SPACE Gallery. O’Brien’s independent curatorial practice includes group and solo exhibitions at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Alice Gauvin Gallery, TEMPOArts, and numerous shows at Able Baker Contemporary, where she was previously a Director of Exhibitions.