Discarded Packaging and Labels Find New Life in Kelly Kozma’s Vibrant Patchworks

Share

Discarded Packaging and Labels Find New Life in Kelly Kozma’s Vibrant Patchworks

From dozens of Chiquita banana labels to toothpaste packaging to color-coded quality control stickers, Kelly Kozma finds beauty in everyday ephemera. “Piece by piece, she saves any colorful or textured box that she encounters, even though most are expected to be discarded after their original use,” says Paradigm Gallery + Studio, which opens the artist’s solo exhibition Watch Me Backflip this weekend.

Kozma takes an archival and interdisciplinary approach to working with numerous found materials, combining a variety of media into two-dimensional wall works, expansive textile-inspired assemblages, and voluminous suspended installations. “Watch Me Backflip embraces ideas of reusing material, interconnectedness, and the significance of the smallest interaction on a much larger environment,” says an exhibition statement.

an installation view of a gallery with small artworks on the wall to the left and a suspended textile piece on the right, made from tiny pieces of plastic and paper repurposed into a colorful textile
Installation view of ‘Watch Me Backflip’ at Paradigm Gallery + Studio

“Iguana & Myrrh” and “Magma & Reef” mark the largest compositions Kozma has created. The former spans 22 feet in circumference and comprises more than 30,000 hand-stitched circles cut from a wide variety of greeting cards, found packaging, and other colorful materials. Committed to a minimal-waste practice, the artist incorporates scraps and loose threads into a number of accompanying works in Watch Me Backflip.

“As she stitches these lovingly collected pieces, Kozma creates connections between the people in her life and the objects she interacts with, inspiring mindfulness against overconsumption and emotional apathy,” the gallery says.

Watch Me Backflip opens today and continues through June 1 in Philadelphia. See more on the artist’s Instagram.

a small, square artwork with brass corners and a circular composition in the middle made of quality control stickers arranged in a colorful pattern
“I See Your Beauty” (2025), process control patches and acrylic on panel
a suspended installation of numerous colorful bead-like pieces complement a number of smaller wall-hung works also made with colorful draping strands of found material
Installation view of ‘Watch Me Backflip’ at Paradigm Gallery + Studio
a detail of an artwork comprising cloth made from woven and connected pieces of plastic and paper, creating colorful patterns
Detail of “Iguana & Myrrh”
an installation view of a suspended sculpture in a gallery, looking upward, comprising numerous strands of colorful beds
Installation view of ‘Watch Me Backflip’ at Paradigm Gallery + Studio
a small, square artwork with brass corners and a circular composition in the middle made of banana stickers arranged in a colorful pattern
“Peels So Good” (2025), banana stickers and acrylic on panel
a detail of an artwork comprising cloth made from woven and connected pieces of plastic and paper, creating colorful patterns
Detail of “Iguana & Myrrh”
a white woman with short blonde hair and a yellow top works on a large, colorful wall installation made from found pieces of paper and plastic
The artist working on the installation of “Magma & Reef”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Discarded Packaging and Labels Find New Life in Kelly Kozma’s Vibrant Patchworks appeared first on Colossal.

kozma 11