
“Amphibian Resurfaced” (2022), oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches. All images © Kajahl, shared with permission courtesy of moniquemeloche
From his studio overlooking Monterey Bay, California,
Greek and Roman vessels like glass
Kajahl’s “Iceberg Entities” are human-iceberg fusions that are starting to thaw, isolated in deep water. The figures gaze intentionally at the viewer, who is given a simultaneous view from above and below the surface that separates “the visible from the invisible world, emphasizing water’s ability to obscure, conceal, or reveal what was once beneath,” he says. On the sea floor, the “Oceandwellers” and “Coral Kids” inhabit a realm brimming with colorful rocks, coral, and shellfish. Air bubbles escape from their mouths, and their gaze also meets the viewer, represented not as inanimate artifacts but as living, breathing figures who are capable of emotion and perception.
Submersia is on view at

“Rocky Reef Inhabitant” (2022), oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

Left: “Iceberg Entity I (Pointed Peak Crown)” (2022), oil on canvas, 72 x 48 inches. Right: “Iceberg Entity III (Ultramarine Gold Turban)” (2022), oil on canvas, 72 x 48 inches

“Iceberg Entity (Glacial Fracture Head)” (2022), oil on canvas, 72 x 48 inches

“Underwater Exhale” (2022), oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

“Kelp Forrest Ocean Dweller” (2022), oil on canvas, 60 x 48 inches

“Iceberg Entity IV (Cracked Head Thawing)” (2022), oil on canvas, 72 x 48 inches
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