Oakley Tapola -- Circuit

Oakley Tapola
Circuit, 2025
Gouache and wax medium on epoxy clay, wire and polyurethane
13½ x 10⅞ in.

Inklings of familial history run through Oakley Tapola’s organically shaped epoxy clay wall reliefs. Focused on memories whose lingering power belies their seemingly banal unimportance, Tapola’s intensely intricate and colorful works conceal moments where individuals are subsumed by the environments surrounding them. From fears about the digital colonization of the lifeworld to a child’s terror at being stuck in a tube slide, Tapola’s assemblages address looming threats by asserting the value and importance of the handmade and intimate.

Oakley Tapola lives and works in St Paul, MN. She received her MFA from NYU in 2019. Exhibition venues include Dreamsong (Minneapolis, MN), FJORD (Philadelphia, PA), Pond Gallery (Fayetteville, AR), Post Times (NYC), Hair and Nails (Minneapolis, MN), and A. D. NYC (NYC).