CALAMITY COLE

GODS & PROPHETS

solo exhibition

July 25th - August 16th, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, August 7th, 2026 ​

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Arch Enemy Arts presents GODS & PROPHETS by Calamity Cole. Twelve mixed media watercolor paintings depict strange parables and holy hallucinations, re-imagined like Byzantine icons and illuminated manuscripts. With epic—if not absurd—titles like “Psychopomps and the Holy Steak” and “Prophecy of the End of Days as Foretold by the Cult of Lobster,” the work is a gushing romp of Technicolor fantasy. Calamity’s style and imagination, her signature pixie-gods and mighty beasts, incredible detail, and flattened space come together in surreal altars and commanding tondos for some of her most involved compositions to-date.

 

“The inspiration for this one came to me all at once as my favorite ideas always do. I was listening to ‘The Origin of Love’ by Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and during the opening lines, all at once, I imagined a fantastic world filled with gods, who created the world little by little. I wanted the art to feel esoteric but silly, so I sprinkled in a frog prophet with a strawberry on its head and a cult of the flying lobster. In this world, concepts we see as mundane, like snacks or naps, have a little god watching over them and celebrating them…When you look at these paintings, I want it to feel like someone you love is reading you a scary children’s book. I’d like you to feel held and safe but like there’s a little danger. A tucked up in bed kind of feeling.” - Calamity Cole

 

Calamity Cole is based in the mountains of Southern California. She attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the San Francisco Art Institute but tells us she “owes the majority” of her skill to Bob Ross and YouTube art teachers. Calamity’s style and use of material is truly her own. We love the way she uses a combination of watercolor, charcoal, and pastel to create this seductive, matte luster, only to interrupt it with subtle hits of metallic paint and glitter decoupage (in the glinting eyes—impossible to photograph). Calamity began showing with Arch Enemy Arts in 2023, and we are honored to have her back for this show, GODS & PROPHETS, her second solo feature with the gallery.

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GODS & PROPHETS will be on view from July 25th - August 16th, 2026
Sold works will begin to ship the week starting August 23rd, unless other rush shipping arrangements have been made. 

Items marked with a red dot have already been sold.

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