Statement


For me, making art involves many private/in my own head conversations with artists around me, with my partner, with friends and with family. Conversations with my dad, in particular, weave through my work as I reflect on how he taught me to use a camera when I was very young as well as many ways of seeing and considering architecture, art, landscape and how we exist as humans within these spaces.


I use art to queer the places around me, recording my surroundings with my camera and then transforming these images in the studio with many different tools and materials. What start as photos, over time in the studio using paint, printmaking, and collage, become installations made up of fragments of artworks – existing somewhere in between built structures, photography, textiles, and representations of nature.


My installations take many forms, but often involve a range of media such as 2D works, photos and video projections. Other components might include architectural interventions with open walls, painted beams, and windows. More recently, within these constructed architectures, I bring in textiles, chairs, and floor pieces that allow the spaces to be inhabited in new ways. These altered spaces often invert interior and exterior and the relationship between two- and three-dimensional space.


The sense of potential and permission that exists in reconstructing architecture inspires my work. While the making of the work tends to involve a personal/internal conversation of understanding the world around me and who I am within it, the spaces themselves are intended to be open. I invite viewers to shape their experience in relation to the art, either alone or in a group.



Bio


Cybele Lyle is a California-based artist whose installation, video and 2D work explores place and identity by reconstructing her surrounding architecture, interior space and natural environment. Cybele graduated from Oberlin College with a BA in Environmental Studies, then went on to get a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts in Printmaking and an MFA in Painting/Combined Media from Hunter College in New York in 2007. She has held residencies at Ox-Bow, Project 387, Atlantic Center for the Arts, the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Recology, and the Headlands Center for the Arts. Her works have been exhibited across the United States including at the 205 Hudson St Hunter Gallery, New York; Bemis Center, Omaha; Oakland Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Orange County Museum of Art, and Et al. gallery, San Francisco, among others. Cybele is a recipient of the Kala Fellowship, the Yozo Hamaguchi Printmaking award, and the Tony Smith Award. Cybele currently lives in Los Angeles and is represented by Et al. Gallery in San Francisco.


Born in Pasadena, CA

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA


EDUCATION
2007  MFA, Hunter College, Combined Media and Painting, New York, NY
2001  BFA, California College of Arts and Crafts, Printmaking, San Francisco, CA
1995  BA, Oberlin College, Environmental Studies, Oberlin, OH

SELECTED SOLO and TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024  (Untitled) at Et al. Gallery, San Francisco, CA (forthcoming)

2021  Dance Desert at Et al. etc Gallery, San Francisco, CA 

2018  The Desert in Four Parts; Part 1: Between what came before, Et al. etc. Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2017  Are You Me or Are You a Stranger, Recology San Francisco
2016  Bring Me Here, Now Take Me Away, Et al. Gallery, San Francisco, CA 
         Adventures in Solitude, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA 
2015  Where Have All the Flowers Gone, ATA Right Window, San Francisco, CA 
         Personal Space, Plug Projects, Kansas City, MO
         Segments|Partitions|Intervals, Adjunct Positions, Los Angeles, CA 
2014  The Moon is Slowly Rising, Et al. Gallery, San Francisco, CA 
         Boxed Out, SFAC Grove St. Gallery, San Francisco, CA 
2013  Fictional/Familiar, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA
2012  2x2 Solos: Cybele Lyle, ProArts, Oakland, CA 
          Space, Time & Architecture w/Luca Antonucci, Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Oakland
2010  Architecture and DNA, Shemei Hall Gallery, Pasadena, CA

          The Last Resort, Krowswork Gallery, Oakland, CA

2009  Untitled (Time Machine), ATA, San Francisco, CA
2007  A Queer Room II, Photo Miami Installation - Galerie Poller, Miami, FL 
         A Queer Room, MFA Thesis Show, Hunter College, Times Square Gallery, New York, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 
2023   Site Seeing, Charlotte Foundation, Kansas City, KS (forthcoming)

           Beyond the Union of Opposites, Upstart Modern Gallery, Sausalito, CA 

2019   Built Environments, San Francisco State University Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2017   California-Pacific Triennial: Building as Ever, Orange County Museum of Art, CA
          Esho Funi, Gallery 16, San Francisco, CA
          Sabbath, Dorothy Saxe Invitational, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
2016   Altered State: Marijuana in California, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA 
          My Witness is the Empty Sky, 1078 Gallery, Chico, CA
          Radical Landscapes, di Rosa Art Museum, Napa, CA
2015   Real Time & Space: A Group Exhibition, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA 
          Tzedakah, Dorothy Saxe Invitational, Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, CA
2014   Another Place, Hunter College Art Gallery, New York, NY
          Para-Apparatus, Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA 
          Many Places at Once w/ RTS, CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, SF, CA
          Cookbook Dreams and Inflatable Futures, Guest Spot, Baltimore, MD 
          Chasm Arena, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco 
          Producing Space, Interface Gallery, Oakland 
2013   Untitled, Disjecta, Portland, OR 
          Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict, Et al. Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012   I like where this is going, Queen’s Nails Gallery, San Francisco, CA 
          DocumentO, Krowswork Gallery, Oakland, CA 
          Placemakers, Bemis Center of Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE
2011   In the Common Corner of Four Rooms, Statler Waldorf Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 
          Run-Off, MacArthur b Arthur, Oakland, CA  
          A Floorless Room without Walls, The Lab, San Francisco, CA 
          Chromatism, NOMA Gallery, San Francisco, CA 
          No Longer the Property of, Lost Coast Culture Machine, Fort Bragg, CA    
          Painting with Pictures 2, Artjail, New York, NY
2010   Mirror Made Me, Krowswork Gallery, Oakland, CA 
          Cynosure: New Work from East Bay Galleries, Worth Ryder Gallery, Berkeley
2009  Fractions of Sight, RoCA, West Nyack, NY 
          tART@AIR, AIR Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2007  Space Stories, Chashama Gallery, New York 
          Good Times: Crash & Play, Vespa, New York
2006  International Flipbook Festival, Reg Vardy Gallery, Sunderland, England (Traveling)
2005  What Means Free?, Chelsea Hotel, New York 
          MAs Select MFAs, Times Square Gallery, New York

AWARDS AND RESIDENCIES 
2017  Recology San Francisco, Artist in Residencey, San Francisco, CA
2016  Headlands Center for the Arts, Artist in Residence, Sausalito, CA

2016  SECA Finalist, Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

2014  Project 387, Artist in Residence, Gualala, CA
2013  Kala Fellowship, Berkeley, CA
2012  2x2 Solos Commission, ProArts, Oakland, CA

2012  SECA Finalist, Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA

2010  Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Artist in Residence, Omaha, NE
2009  Ox-Bow, Artist in Residence, Fall Fellowship, Saugatuck, MI
2008  Atlantic Center for the Arts, Artist in Residence, New Smyrna Beach, FL
2007  Tony Smith Award, Hunter College

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Bemis Center, Omaha, NE
Ellie Mae, Inc., CA
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport, CA
Recology San Francisco, CA
San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, CA
Stanford Hospital, Menlo Park, CA

ARTICLES, BLOGS, BOOKS & REVIEWS 
2018  Kirkland, Kelly. Cybele Lyle: Lured to the Local, Art Practical, October 30, 2018
2017  Knight, Christopher. 2017 California-Pacific Triennial at OCMA: The art of building up (and tearing down), LA Times, August, 2017
         Morgan, Susan. The Impermanent Architecture at California-Pacific Triennial, KCET Online, May 17, 2017
         University of West Florida. Cybele Lyle, Panhandler Magazine, January 2017.
2016  Cheng, Jennifer S. Cybele Lyle: Transfiguring space, Jacket2, August, 2016
         Kost, Ryan. Redefining the spaces around us in multimedia, SF Chronicle, September , 2016
2015  Akel, Joseph. As San Francisco Booms, So Does its Gallery Scene, New York Times T Magazine, January 8, 2015 
2014  Frock, Christian L. Inside The Battery’s Quest to Cultivate Art Patrons and Philanthropists, KQED, November 24, 2014
          Smith, Kara Q. Place, Decoupled, Artslant, June 15, 2014 
          Hotchkiss, Sarah, Cybele Lyle’s ‘Moon is Slowly Rising’ at Et al., KQED, June 12
2013  Bigman, Alex. Swarm Gallery's Farewell Exhibition Shows Fresh Perspectives, East Bay Express, May 22, 2013
          Lutz, Leora. Several Species of Furry Animals…Grooving with a Pict..” SFAQ, May
2012  Bigman, Alex. Pick: 2x2 Solos: Cybele Lyle and Wafaa Yasin, East Bay Express, Nov
          Cosio, Alfonso and Monique Delaunay. SHED Projects: House Show, Oakland Art Enthusiast, August 9, 2012 
          Haas, Maggie. Now Featuring: Cybele Lyle, Little Paper Planes, April 1, 2012 
          Cheng, DeWitt. Top Five Things to do Over the Next Three Days, East Bay Express, February 20
          Villarreal, Jose. Nine artists engaged in interventionist and transformative acts exhibit at Bemis Center, Art Daily, February 20 
          Harwood, Cassie. Space, Time, and Architecture, East Bay Express, February 
          Mackler, Lauren. Public Fiction #2: The Gold Rush/Manifest Destiny Issue, February
          Frock, Christian L. Royal Nonesuch Gallery Redefines Alternative with Space, Time and  Architecture, KQED, January 29
          Cosio, Alfonso and Monique Delaunay. Royal Nonesuch Gallery, Space, Time, and  Architecture, Oakland Art Beat, January 22, 
          Deskins, Sally. Cybele Lyle, Artist, Les Femmes Folles, January 16
          Olsen, Augusta. On-Site Sights - Bemis Center Opens Seminal Installation, Shout!  Weekly, January 12
          Grattan, Nikki and Klea McKenna. In the Make: Cybele Lyle, In the Make.net, January 
2011  Jones, Kelly. Little Paper Planes Blog, October 25 
          Haas, Maggie. The Take-Away: Run Off at MacArthur, The Daily Serving, October 17
          Echeveste, Stephanie. Art on the Ceiling -- About the Ceiling..., SFWeekly, June 28
2010  Cheng, DeWitt. Picks, East Bay Express, March 3-9 
          Ringer, Isabelle and Ross Todd Kerr. Emancipated Hearts See Optical Illusions, Mirrors & More, Piedmont Post, February 10
          Auer, Theo Konrad. The Month Ahead in Oakland Art: Mirror Made Me at Krowswork Gallery “TheOakbook.com,” February 5