Larassa Kabel

Des Moines, Iowa

Larassa Kabel is a visual artist who creates photorealistic drawings, paintings and prints.

Through her work Kabel explores notions of loss, fear, gender and feminism. At the root, her practice is driven by compassion. 

Her work has been shown nationally in galleries and museums including the Des Moines Art Center, The Mission Gallery, Peel Gallery, Karolyn Sherwood Gallery, Exhibit 101, Visions West, and Moberg Gallery. 

“I spend my days making art about the trauma of love. I’m fascinated by love. It’s the most important foundation of our lives. We long for it, we know it when we feel it, and as soon as we have it, we are afraid of losing it. The bigger the love, the bigger the fear. And it will end eventually. Heartbreak and grief are the price of love. I want to know how to look at that fear, knowing that it is real and true, and still say “yes” to love over and over again.

I do this by creating my own versions of memento mori. I practice by dropping horses from great heights, by sculpting two headed deer that represent Love and Loss, by capturing the beauty of the world so that I remember that it will exist long after me and my heartbreak are gone. I make work about mortality to remind myself to pay attention to my life. It’s short. I don’t miss it.”