Nicole Banowetz and Devin Reilly collaborate on performative sculptures. They find fascinating and beautiful organisms in the natural world to recreate as wearable and inflatable sculptures, which they photograph out in the environment or use in surreal performances. They began collaborating in 2017 when founding the activist artist group BAAM. In 2022, they put all their belongings into storage to become a nomadic art-making duo. They created a giant floating art installation for the Bosch parade in the Netherlands in 2024 and have completed numerous residences together, including Sculpture Space in New York, The Aquarium Gallery in New Orleans, Lakeside Lab in Iowa, Lookout Arts Quarry in Washington, and the Grand Canyon Artist in Residence Program.
Banowetz is from Colorado, where she studied art and found a passion for sewing large inflatable sculptures. She has shown work in large international exhibitions such as The Amsterdam Light Festival, Bad Art’s Hot Air in London, Open Art in Sweden, and PASSAGES INSOLITES in Quebec City, and taken part in environmental exhibitions in California, Colorado, Connecticut, and Finland. Her largest gallery installations were shown in the Denver Art Museum, the Longmont Museum, and Wonderspaces.
Reilly was born in Kansas, but moved to Colorado, where he met Nicole, and their love of microscopic creatures brought them together. Reilly originally studied illustration but found that he preferred sculpture, and began to focus on wearable sculpture pieces. He worked for many years as a commercial sculptor, gaining skills in a variety of materials and processes.
