cynthia minet

Land / Air / Sea

February 7 - March 21, 2026

Los Angeles, CA — CMAY Gallery is pleased to present Land / Air / Sea, the inaugural solo exhibition by Los Angeles–based artist Cynthia Minet. The exhibition features six new cast aluminum sculptures that explore the fragile interdependence between human activity and the natural world. Minet is best known for her illuminated, site-responsive sculptures and installations of life-sized
animals made from recycled plastics. Her practice draws attention to the escalating effects of climate change and industrial pollution on species extinction and ecological balance, employing a research-based visual language that resonates emotionally with viewers.

In Land / Air / Sea, Minet presents abstracted yet recognizable sculptural forms derived from close observation of fauna—human, bird, fish, and insect. The works originate as constructions assembled from fragments of discarded polystyrene packing materials, a substance rarely recycled and emblematic of contemporary consumer waste. Cast in aluminum, the sculptures retain animated surface textures embedded with embossed recycling symbols and commercial logos, preserving traces of their original material history. Through this transformation, Minet underscores humanity’s role in the degradation of land, air, and sea, while giving permanence to what is typically disposable.

This body of work extends Minet’s polystyrene-to-aluminum casting process first realized in her public artwork Stacked (2025–2027), an eight-foot sculpture commissioned for Kite Pharma’s sculpture garden in Santa Monica, California. Originally constructed from discarded polystyrene, Stacked depicts a vertical arrangement of three endangered animals—a Galápagos tortoise, a Mexican red wolf, and a Przewalski’s horse—topped by a human rider. Referencing carved First Nations totem poles and Italian Renaissance monuments, the work addresses themes of hierarchy, dominance, and responsibility within the natural world.

Cynthia Minet has presented solo exhibitions at institutions throughout Southern California, including Craft Contemporary, the Torrance Art Museum, the USC Fisher Museum of Art, and the Culver Center for the Arts at UC Riverside. Her work has also been exhibited nationally and internationally, and reviewed by outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Artillery Magazine, LA Weekly, and Wired. Her work is held in public and private collections in the United States and abroad.