Feeling Lucky at Kat Ryals’ ‘Showroom Dynasty’

The minute I looked at Kat Ryals’ new rug-shaped velvet works, my first thought was: “There is something inherently ‘Las Vegas’ about these.” On view in Showroom Dynasty, curated by Lauren Hirshfield at 5-50 Gallery, they are busy and intricate, heavily layered yet extremely flat. This comes from her process of photographing objects she has accumulated, collaging the high-resolution images, and printing them on velvet.

Walking around and admiring each one of her pieces transported me back to a visit to Las Vegas last year, where I felt lucky, glamorous, a little trashy, and regal walking through the different casinos. The major resort and gambling city, known for its cheap imitations of sophistication and luxury brought down to a level for the masses, truly represents peak capitalism. A thin veil of glamor and shine hides what is lost to a greedy house.

Elements of gambling and lottery culture — poker chips, cards, dice, and used lottery tickets—are in the velvet works and the objects themselves scattered on the floor. Ryals aggressively confronts us with the idea of chasing wealth purely by chance. Combining patterning based on bad design, loosely resembling fancy Persian rugs, Ryals’ works speaks to the mimicry and confusion that casinos have mastered so well.

Ryals’ rugs replicate pretend replicas — the carpets we see in Las Vegas casinos are not highly expensive rugs, nor are they based on beauty. Instead, busy and maze-like patterns are designed to make visitors confused walking around the casinos— if you’ve ever been in a Las Vegas casino, you could be in there for 12, 24, or even 48 hours and not even realize what time it is outside. The carpets themselves try to confuse you, and the setup of the gambling tables and slots adds to the feeling of disorientation. There’s extra constructed chaos to that — people, when they have chips, if they drop them, they generally get lost in the patterns of the carpet, and often they are not picked up, and money and other items are just left on the ground. This is all part of a thought-out manipulation that all of Las Vegas’ casinos are in on; it helps keep people inside, continue to gamble, and not realize how much money they have lost. Next time I visit Vegas I will be considering the carpeting with much more artistic appreciation, and I can’t wait to see what I will discover.

With unemployment and college debt at record highs, the idea of gambling feels not that ridiculous of a solution. As Labubus becomes the hot item, toy keychains—to be clear, as a way of an investment—the idea of wealth not being from objects or ideas that have true value, but instead, ones that capture our attention, that sparkle and draw us in is pervasive. Gambling leads me to consider the get-rich-fast internet culture. The idea of striking it rich online, as an influencer or through a pyramid scheme of selling classes, is similar to the Gold Rush of the 1800s—at the tip of our fingers. Yet, for most, hard to accomplish. Many choose to play the game. They try to attain wealth that is vastly out of reach, through these empty means, without benefit to society.

Textile work is notoriously tricky to display. And, when collectors look at it, they wonder: how can I install this in my home? Ryals has not only found a good solution, but her hanging mechanism is part of the integrity of the work. She has clipped her velvet pieces to a curtain rod, paired with gold, gaudy hardware (a nod to Vegas), and, upon closer look, fascinating decorations. The objects on the curtain rods are the same objects featured in the rug that it is holding up. Each decorated curtain rod is unique; they are decorated and made with the materials that you see in the rug’s imagery. I love this element so much — it gives a sense of ‘The Collector’ (or hoarder) mentality that goes into the creation of these pieces, as well as overconsumption.

As an artist, I recognize the effort it takes to find a technique that works; for Ryals it was finding a printer that could print her intricately collaged photographed creations on velvet, which gallery director Bailey Coleman explained took her many trials and errors.

If you stay in front of Ryals’ works long enough, you can find references to The Venetian Las Vegas, Flamingo Las Vegas, the former Stardust Resort and Casino, and so many slot machines. The exhibition is stellar because each rug acts as a segment of a little world one can fall into — Ryals’ attention to detail in placing small elements of capitalist gambling culture within the works and exhibition is encompassing, and I love it.

I felt in the best way how someone does in a casino. I could be in the gallery looking at her works for hours and lose track of time.

Kat Ryals’ Showroom Dynasty, curated by Lauren Hirshfield, is on view through October 19, 2025 at 5-50 Gallery.

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