Ehrlich Steinberg is pleased to present the solo exhibition Nymph by Los Angeles-based artist Erin Calla Watson. The exhibition comprises a new series of digitally rendered environments printed on mirrored glass, drawing from author Dare Wright’s The Lonely Doll children’s book series. Expanding upon and recontextualizing the eerie qualities of Wright’s original work—long venerated for its earnest and ominous visual language—Calla Watson examines contemporary girlhood, the construction of domestic space, the aesthetics of doubling, and the overlapping of imagined and appropriated images.
The exhibition’s title draws from the concept of the nymph as a transitional entity, not yet fully developed. In mythology, a nymph represents both a young woman and bride-to-be. In biology, it refers to the immature stage of certain insects undergoing incomplete metamorphosis. Considering this dual meaning, Calla Watson continues her exploration into representations of femininity within cultural and psychological structures.
Nymph reconstructs environments from Wright’s oeuvre in 3D-rendered space and removes the books’ original characters, Edith and Mr. Bear. Through this, a heightened psychological estrangement is revealed amidst the books’ ostensibly innocent scenes. In two works, Calla Watson introduces her own figure drawings based on Henry Darger’s epic twentieth-century Vivian Girls cycle and the fictional vampire Edward Cullen played by Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga fantasy films. These interventions point to the persistent allure of cult characters within collective adolescent and fan imaginaries, underscoring the artist’s ongoing interest in fringe subcultures including ad hoc online communities and the hermit or recluse.
Various doppelgängers appear through duplicated objects such as paired candles, identical perfume bottles, and the Twin Towers. By reusing Darger’s figures—themselves tracings from Disney stills—the works draw attention to the layered mediation of source material, engaging with the genres of collage and appropriation.
The uncomfortable absence of figures within these highly stylized domestic settings imbues the scenes with a latent tension. Rendered in the desaturated, affectless language of computer-generated space, the environments conversely retain a subtle intimacy. Stacked books on the cusp of falling and disorganized beauty products sitting upon a marble table suggest an uneasy imminence. Nymph invites viewers into an ambiguous place of projection and identification where the breakdown of narrative order signals the erosion of underlying social frameworks.
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Erin Calla Watson (b. 1993, Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Calla Watson received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts in 2023. Previous solo exhibitions include Laddy Daddy Dah at Rinde am Rhein, Dusseldorf, DE (2024); (Untitled) n.d. at Foxy Production, New York, NY (2023) and KYLE at Larder, Los Angeles, CA (2022). Selected group exhibitions include Display at Ehrlich Steinberg, Los Angeles, CA; Proof of Concept: Photography at Briefing Room, Brussels, BE (2024); Unto Dust at Fitzpatrick Gallery, Paris, FR (2023); Video Store at Foxy Production, New York, NY (2023); a somewhat thin line at In Lieu, Los Angeles, CA; At Land at Foxy Production, New York, NY (2022) and The Conspiracy of Art: Part II at Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles, CA (2020). Calla Watson’s work has been featured in Artforum, Mousse, STUDIO Magazine, Numero, Section and Objectiv.
Installation view. Nymph by Erin Calla Watson, 2025.
Erin Calla Watson, Supermassive Black Hole, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 60 x 46 in. (152.5 x 117 cm).
Erin Calla Watson, Supermassive Black Hole, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 60 x 46 in. (152.5 x 117 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, Supermassive Black Hole, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 60 x 46 in. (152.5 x 117 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, Supermassive Black Hole, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 60 x 46 in. (152.5 x 117 cm).
Erin Calla Watson, Glory Box, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 51 x 75 in. (129.5 x 190.5 cm).
Erin Calla Watson, Glory Box, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 51 x 75 in. (129.5 x 190.5 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, Glory Box, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 51 x 75 in. (129.5 x 190.5 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, Glory Box, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 51 x 75 in. (129.5 x 190.5 cm).
Installation view. Nymph by Erin Calla Watson, 2025.
Erin Calla Watson, When I was a young boy, My father took me into the city, To see a marching band, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 36 x 37 in. (91.5 x 94 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, When I was a young boy, My father took me into the city, To see a marching band, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 36 x 37 in. (91.5 x 94 cm).
Erin Calla Watson, Flightless Bird, American Mouth, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 60 x 48 in. (152.5 x 122 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, Flightless Bird, American Mouth, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 60 x 48 in. (152.5 x 122 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, Flightless Bird, American Mouth, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 60 x 48 in. (152.5 x 122 cm).
Erin Calla Watson, So Yesterday, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 45 x 36 in. (114.5 x 91.5 cm).
Erin Calla Watson, So Yesterday, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 45 x 36 in. (114.5 x 91.5 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, So Yesterday, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 45 x 36 in. (114.5 x 91.5 cm).
Detail. Erin Calla Watson, So Yesterday, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 45 x 36 in. (114.5 x 91.5 cm).
Erin Calla Watson, So Yesterday, 2025. UV print on mirrored glass, 45 x 36 in. (114.5 x 91.5 cm).
Photos: Evan Walsh
