Koplin Del Rio is pleased to present “TERRIcolas (EARTHlings”), marking the de la Torre brothers’ 6th solo exhibition with the gallery and second in Seattle since our relocation from Los Angeles. Comprised of an array of new hand-blown glass and lenticular artworks, the exhibition presents examples of hybrid, shape-shifting “TERRIcolas (EARTHlings)”- inhabitants of planet Earth. In the brothers’ standard state of ultra-baroque excess and tragic comedy, “TERRIcolas (EARTHlings)” indicates parallels between our current environmental crisis and supernatural figures of mythology dating back thousands of years. In short, highlighting human hubris, and our supreme failure to evolve and to listen to nature in her myriad voices, and instead, setting our eyes on bottom lines, and going so far as to explore the habitability of other planets, rather than tending to our own. Evolving from an ongoing examination of the Northern Crusades and Slavic mythology, the emphasis of these varied bodies is on water, as opposed to “Terra” and particularly centered around the symbolic resurrection of the Slavic mythological creature, Vodyanoy, protector of the swampy wilderness, poised to drown or rescue depending on whim and worth. Loaded with cross-cultural iconography and taking into account the histories, socio-economic and environmental elements which shape our present, with “TERRIcolas (EARTHlings)”, the Brothers aim to resurrect the powerful, preeminent deities that protect the wilderness and earth’s ecosystems.

"The moment in history we are living sorely calls for true humility - we’re terricolas, we’re just termites in our planetary mound and need to balance our consumption for the sake of simple existence.” - Einar and Jamex de la Torre