Past Exhibitions

Mieko Akutsu & Karen Kuo
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 8th, 6-9 PM
June 8th – July 20th, 2024

Space Ten Gallery is proud to present a duo exhibition featuring artists Mieko Akutsu and Karen Kuo. Assemblies of hash marks in Mieko Akutsu’s drawings find formal analogy in the assemblies of variegated “lines” of colored porcelains that compose Karen Kuo’s “nerikomi” sculptures. Like marks on a wall signifying the passage of days, these bodies of work, in their meditative accumulation of countless small gestures, are deeply-felt representations of the passage of time and of our own impermanence.

In her “Blink” series on display in the gallery, Mieko Akutsu’s starkly minimalist black-and-white paintings on paper are relics of the artist’s durational performances which consider the human experience of time via mindfulness to a single human physiological response––blinking. In her performances, her lines on paper and the spaces between them correspond to each of the artist’s blinks and the seconds between; as the lines fill the paper and form rows down the sheet, decisions of size (of her marks and of the paper) dictate the sum duration of the performance. In the largest of these meditative drawings, the monumental 90-foot-long work displayed hanging from the rafters of the gallery, Akutsu has painstakingly cataloged the effort of her blinking for a 16 hours, a single day of wakefulness. Offering a stark contrast in scale, Akutsu’s “Blink music” series records the cadences of her blinking with punched holes on music box paper. In translating her performances onto a musical score, Akutsu neatly engages in a disarming synesthesia, with tiny crank music boxes providing audiences the opportunity to “hear” her blinking and thereby share in her experience of time.

Karen Kuo’s sculptures are deeply influenced by “anitya”–– the Buddhist concept that all things and ideas are contingent events that come into being and then dissolve. This concept is particularly evident in Kuo’s mud spheres, or “dorodango.” What appear to be polished balls of stone are actually delicate, painstakingly crafted accretions of dirt and water, built up over countless hours and polished by hand to a perfect sheen. Also on display are an array of Kuo’s ceramics, which utilize a meticulous Japanese handbuilding technique called “nerikomi” that combines variously colored clay bodies into parquet geometric designs. Blending geometric abstraction and narrative with her painterly sensibility, Kuo employs this technique to create jewel-like and resonant forms––gems, offering cups, spheres, and radiating wall pieces. As fragile and meticulously-crafted accretions and assemblages, Kuo’s works are meditations on the effort of formation, becoming, and the contingency of incarnation.

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Image: Richard Newton, “Demon Me” (1971, 2011).

Film Night: Selected Films of Charles Christopher Hill & Richard Newton

Saturday, May 25th, at 6 PM

Space Ten Gallery is proud to present a screening of selected short films from the 1970s by Los Angeles artists Charles Christopher Hill and Richard Newton, curated by Robert Wilhite. Following the screening will be a short discussion moderated by art historian, archivist, and researcher H.C. Arnold.

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Keith Magruder: Weekends at Grandma’s

March 29th – May 11th, 2024

Space Ten Gallery proudly presents "Weekends at Grandma’s," an exhibition of new installation work by artist Keith Magruder. Through his masterful manipulation of watercolor paper, Magruder resurrects the everyday objects of his youth – from foods to toys, furniture, clothes, and trinkets – with uncanny mimetic realism. In “Weekends at Grandma’s,” Magruder meticulously reimagines and restages scenes from his childhood memories of his grandmother's home. As nostalgia and craftsmanship converge, Magruder's art grants us entry into an enveloping world suffused with warmth and affection, reminding us of the mysterious capacity of objects to carry family history, memory, and love.

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CUP SHOW 2
November 17th, 2023 – January 13th, 2024
Space Ten Gallery is very excited to present its second annual CUP SHOW. This time, the exhibition brings together over one hundred and forty artists in celebration of that humble form––the cup.

With cups by: Amabelle Aguiluz, Justin Akioka, Eli Allman, Mérida Etty Anderson, Isabella Artale, Bob Bates, Allison Beaudry, Casey Beck, Jane Berman, Geoffrey Booras, Haley Ann Bradley, Ariel Brice, Lauren E. Bupp, Terri Burris, Andrew Castaneda, Pe Celedon, Corinne Chaix, Alan Chin, Marjorie Chin, Neen Choplin, Tim Cotterill, Damien Hoar de Galvan, Godeleine de Rosamel, John Domenico, Denise Domergue, Lora Ellingson, Maxine Eng, Mason Eng, Karim Fazulzianov, Benedikt Fischer, Malado Francine, Tom Franco, Chie Fujii, Darlene Fukuji, Mik Gaspay, Veronica Giorgetti, Lexis Gomez, Arthur Gonzalez, Erik Scollon, Katherine Lam, Joe Goode, Anna Graef, David Grant, Carlotta Guerra, Yoshimi Hayashi, Shawn HibmaCronan, Charles Hill, Abigail Ho, Kate Hungerford, Fred Jotojot, Eric Kao, Lesley Kice Nishigawara, MP Knowlton, Emily Kong, Noel Korten, Karen Kuo, Jo Lauria, Lilly Lee, Suhn Lee, Raina Lee, Cara Levine, Sophia Li, Marc Lino, Huntz Liu, Evan Lopez, Amanda Luu, Keith Magruder, Diana Markessinis, Destiny Lee Martindill, Max Maslansky, Kanjana Mathongsa, David Maxwell, Lincoln Mayne, Travis McFlynn, Erick Medel, Keila Medina Villanueva, Galen Melchert, Laura Menz, Scott Meskill, Devin Meskill, Maxfield Miles, Brittany Mojo, Sachi Moskowitz, Nobuhito Nishigawara, Amber Noyer, Vijay V. Paniker, Paulin Paris, Sabine Thomas-Paris, Renée Petropoulos, Bryanna Phan, Eric William Pierson, Thomas Martinez Pilnik, Anthony Pinata, Laurie Pincus, Alyssa Quigley, Karen Regoli-Arthur, Francis River, Chelsie Rivera, Peter Russo, Amy Santoferraro, Coral Saucedo Lomeli, Mia Schachter, Bennet Schlesinger, Heather Scott Peterson, Evan Seeling, Nancy Selvin, Alan Shaffer, Peter Shelton, George Sherman, Rebecca Shippee, Sam Shoemaker, Adam Silverman, Natalia Ira Sookias, Lisa Staugaard, Lorien Stern, Avery Swain, Toshiko Takaezu, Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Charles Talbot, Sara Ekua Todd, John Toki, Carla Tome, Iris Torres, Kim Tucker, Deenah Vollmer, Peter Voulkos, Pier Voulkos, Ann Weber, Marina Weiner, Axel Wilhite, Robert Wilhite, Corrie Wille, Addison Woolsey, Mariah Wynn, Madam X, and Brian Zamora.

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Shawn HibmaCronan: Every Thought A Vessel
September 17th – October 28th, 2023
Space Ten Gallery is proud to present “Every Thought A Vessel,” a solo exhibition featuring seven vehicular sculptures by Bay Area artist Shawn HibmaCronan. Following in the footsteps of Bay Area builder-artists ascendant in the 1970s and 80s, such as Ron Covell, Don Potts, and Michael Cooper, HibmaCronan’s so-called “vessels” blur distinctions between engineering, furniture, cars, and art. Whimsically imagined and meticulously fabricated, each of his kinetic sculptures offer entrée into speculative realms of possibility, play, and imagination.

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Madam X: Circumnaviating the Sphere of Time
July 15th – August 26th, 2023
Space Ten Gallery presents “Circumnavigating the Sphere of Time,” an exhibition of transcendental works on paper by the reclusive Los Angeles artist, Madam X. Drawing comparison to artists like Hilma af Klint and Agnes Pelton, Madam X has worked in relative anonymity for the last 40 years, passionately exploring an evolving understanding of the spiritual world through her artwork.

Press Release
Exhibition Checklist

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L.A. All-Stars
June 9th – July 8th, 2023
Curated by Robert Wilhite

Space Ten Gallery presents “L.A. All-Stars,” a group show of artwork and ephemera from the Los Angeles art scene of the 1970s and 80s. Taking its cues from the art collection of the late art patron Dr. Harvey La Tourette and his circle of friends, “L.A. All-Stars” presents an intimate cross-section of one particularly dazzling corner of the Los Angeles artworld.

With work by: Bruce Conner, Chris Burden, Huguette Caland, Guy de Cointet, Joe Fay, George Herms, Charles Hill, John Baldessari, Julie Bozzi, Michael Brewster, Wallace Berman, Tony Berlant, Madam X, Ed Moses, Raymond Saunders, Alexis Smith, and Robert Wilhite.

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Laura Green: The Realm of Vallemar
April 15th – May 27th, 2023

Space Ten Gallery presents “The Realm of Vallemar,” a solo exhibition of assemblage sculpture by Pacifica-based artist Laura Green. With a deft hand and a profound sensitivity, Green’s art weaves together a diverse array of materials, including sentimental, personal memorabilia and chance objects discovered around her home’s wood-shaded surroundings in Vallemar, California. The resulting assemblages are intricate and evocative, with webs of thread serving as both a unifying technique and a metaphor for the complexity of the human experience.

Through her art, Green illuminates her emotional world and confronts unresolved traumas with poignant introspection. Her works resonate with deep personal significance while inviting the viewer to contemplate themes of memory, loss, and transformation. With "The Realm of Vallemar," Laura Green pays homage to the memory of her late husband, Stephen Headley, whose hands contributed to the construction of many of the works on display. Through the act of creation, Green grapples with the weight of her grief, weaving strands of memory and emotion into delicate and evocative sculptures which remind us that even in the face of tragedy, art-making can be a form of healing, a way of honoring the past while forging a path forward.

Exhibition Plan

Sense of Place
February 4th – March 18th, 2023
Curated by Alex McAdoo

Space Ten Gallery presents “Sense of Place,” an exhibition of paintings that re-evaluates nature and landscape as subjects in the 21st century.

With work by: Zola Anderson, Loren Burke, Sam Drake, Jessica Dunne, Ivan Rios Fetchko, Evan Gilbert, Dylan Hurwitz, Sean Hutton, Kiernan Pazdar, Pam Posey, Ohad Sarfaty, Aparna Sarkar, and Rebecca Shippee.

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Robert Wilhite: Zero
September 30 – December 11, 2022

Space Ten Gallery presents “Zero,” a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based artist Robert Wilhite. Wilhite’s sculptures in Zero serve as urgent moral confrontations with puerile militarism, power, and self-annihilation.

The main gallery features a selection of Wilhite’s foreboding full-scale wooden deconstructions of nuclear weaponry – ”Fat Man” (2007), “Davey Crockett” (2011), and “Briefcase Nuke” (2009). In juxtaposition with his imposing bomb sculptures is the delicacy of Wilhite’s “The Future is Micro” (2022), a massive installation of some 400 airplanes composed of insect wings and matchsticks. Finally, “The Past” and “The Future” (2020), two antique pendulum clocks, lacquered black and amended by the artist, stand as ambiguous sentinels over the exhibition. Collectively, these sculptures hang frozen in that eternal instant before detonation; they are confrontational, ambivalent portents of violence and its after-image. With the recent, terrifying escalation in Ukraine at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, we are once again vividly reminded of our planet’s dire circumstances in the perpetual shadows of war, nuclear disaster, and climate catastrophe. Our existential fragility is a central, perennial theme of this area of Wilhite’s sculpture.

Exhibition Checklist

“The Future is Micro” Checklist

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Tom Franco: Billow Talk, Rock Walk
July 8th – August 27th, 2022

Space Ten Gallery presents “Billow Talk, Rock Walk,” an exhibition of sculpture by artist Tom Franco Heavily influenced and inspired by the Bay Area funk movement, Tom Franco’s sculpture draws on the vernacular of funk assemblage as well as folk and outsider art. Throwaway objects and materials offer surprising, semi-recognizable forms as substrata for his quirky, sensuously painted sculptures. Paint layered upon bottles, bottle caps, shoes, ceramics, toys, discarded appliances, tools, and other found objects marry Franco’s rich inner world with poignant observations of life in and around his home in Oakland, California.

“There is something about including as many layers to a work that can reasonably fit,” writes Franco. “Layers of color, images, combining my favorite objects and themes, layers of meaning, searching for answers in the work…” As Franco builds up his layers of paint, the sculptures become spontaneous playgrounds for Franco’s nimble, often absurd narrative imagination. In one sculpture, a Singer sewing machine becomes an undersea vessel surrounded by a school of variegated tropical fish; in another, a tiger inexplicably balances on the nose of a rocket ship. Each of Franco’s artworks invites viewers to enter a dreaming world brimming with his own characteristic humor and sense of play.

CUP SHOW
March 25 – May 14th, 2022

Space Ten Gallery presents “CUP SHOW,” bringing together over one hundred and sixty artists in celebration of a humble form––the cup.

With cups by: John Domenico, Eli Allman, Zhubin Rahbar, Massimo Vignelli, Terri Jirousek, Aida Staugaard, Kiran Sahgal, Alyssa Quigley, Sara Ekua Todd, MP Knowlton, Haley Ann Bradley, Jane Berman, Godeleine de Rosamel, Hunter Buck, Coleen Sterritt, Mieko Akutsu, Emily Formentini, Lora Ellingson, Jake Ziemann, Chelsea Stephan, John Toki, Lex Gomez, Tom Franco, Eric Kao, Alan Chin, Dino Capaldi, Yuki Katayama, Neen Choplin, Cara Levine, Lauren Elder, Bob Wilhite, Taylor Lee, Lisa Staugaard, Mannix Vega, Cruz Craw, John Baldessari, Arthur Gonzalez, Joan Takayama, Nathan Lynch, Sean McGaughey, Paulin Paris, Georges Paris, Sakura Heffron, Britt Mojo, Mattias Russo-Larsson, Nicole Seisler, Armis Haghnejad, Matt Hollis, Evan Lopez, Peter Shire, Alberto Cuadros, Sarah Koik, Francis River, Greg Eldridge, Rebecca Niederlander, Corrie Willie, Dominic Santos, Shawn Hibmacronan, Lana Nichols, Galen Melchert, Nancy Selvin, Scott Meskill, Joseph DiMatteo, Terri Burris, Adam Miller, Erick Medel, Marjorie Chin, Merrick Adams, Jay and Rie Dion, Austin Kilham, Fizzy Ceramics, Laura Langley, Jeremy Kapone, Esther Rojas-Soto, Karen Kuo, Karen Tong, Carla Tome, Eric Staugaard, Ann Weber, Laura Green, Manyan Lam, Raina Lee, Anthony Pinata, Colin Hurley, Amabelle Aguiluz, Elle Kuan, Lauren Preble, Deenah Vollmer, Lorien Stern, Ian Patrick Cato, Vijay Paniker, Natalia Ira Sookias, Mik Gaspay, Taylor Lee, Lauren Bupp, Question Marks, Rik Ritchey, Joseph Distephanos, Jean Nagai, Jonathan Weaver, David Otis, Adams Puryear, Iris Torres, Andrew Gilliatt, KC Burton, Jonnie Palmer, Nathan Ring, Tyler Quintin, Claire McCauley, Coleman Weimer, Ehren Tool, David Mitchell, Maija Peeples-Bright, Howard Hack, Stan Dann, Masaomi Yasunaga, Christa Assad, Danielle Dobeck, Seth Melchert, Leslie Toki, Shousai Tsujimoto, Clayton Bailey, Peter Voulkos, Emi Ozaki, John Balistreri, Kate Devor Leuhusen, Kate Hungerford, Julie Herrmanns, Nick McAdoo, Ree Kaneko, Mark Johnson, Ken Price, Tyler Bopp, Don Reitz, Todd Christensen, Travis McFlynn, Sabine Paris, Ann Adair Voulkos, Alissa Goss, Jim Melchert, Billy Al Bengston, Havana Davidson, Joshua Kopin, Sara Haynes, Ken Price, Kate Pincus-Whitney, Joseph Kowalczyk, Erik Scollon, Orion Turmon, Karen Massaro, Nicole Buscemi, Berit Hines, Tim Barry, Dan Toberer, Lilly Powell, Alex McAdoo, Natalie Cassidy, John Sasaki, Will Van Boldrik, and Mason + Maxine Eng.

©2022-2024 Space Ten Gallery

©2022-2024
Space Ten Gallery