Greg Ito embraces a graphic visual style to create cinematic paintings and installations that address themes of time, love, loss, hope, and tragedy. A gifted storyteller, the artist incorporates personal and family narratives into his dense compositions, such as his grandparents’ forced relocation to concentration camps during World War II. During their internment at the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona, their romance blossomed, offering light during dark days, a recurring motif.
Ito’s work imagines dream-like worlds inspired by his hometown of Los Angeles and opens portals to alternate timelines where daily life dilates into fantasy. The artist draws from an ever-expanding lexicon of symbols and imagery ranging from burning candles, keyholes, and windows, to snakes, moons, and suns. Ito uses a distinct palette of off-nature colors to depict scenes of wildfires, disaster, and destruction, that simultaneously asserts an optimistic outlook in uncertain times as he fills his work with icons of new life—growing vines, flittering butterflies, and transcendent skies.
Greg Ito (b. 1987, Los Angeles, CA) earned his BFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 2008. His work has been exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions including at Institute of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA; Maki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; SUPRS Gallery, Beijing, China; Lyles and King, New York, NY; Jeffrey Deitch, New York; NY and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), San Francisco, CA. Ito’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami. Ito lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "The Last Serenade." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 84" x 210" [HxW] (213.36 x 533.4 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Greg-Ito_GI1169_1666127799.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "Head Space." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 60" x 40" [HxW] (152.4 x 101.6 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over shaped panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Greg-Ito_GI1166_1663805001.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "Cat Nap." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 88" x 64" [HxW] (223.52 x 162.56 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Greg-Ito_GI1156_1663805155.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "All You Can Carry." This artwork was created in 2022 and measures 48" x 36" [HxW] (121.92 x 91.44 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Greg-Ito_GI1140_1653427294-1540x2000.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "The Ceremony." This artwork was created in 2021 and measures 62" x 200" [HxW] (157.48 x 508 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Greg-Ito_GI1126_1653427302.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "Tunnel Vision." This artwork was created in 2021 and measures 88" x 64" [HxW] (223.52 x 162.56 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Greg-Ito_GI1124_1653427313-1506x2000.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "Day In Day Out." This artwork was created in 2021 and measures 60" x 40" [HxW] (152.4 x 101.6 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Greg-Ito_GI1122_1653427315-1475x2000.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "Bloom." This artwork was created in 2021 and measures 72" diameter [HxW] (182.88 cm). Its medium is Acrylic on canvas over panel.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Greg-Ito_GI1123_1653427319.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "Fire Sky." This artwork was created in 2019 and measures 64" x 54" x 54" [HxWxD] (162.56 x 137.16 x 137.16 cm). Its medium is Enamel on steel, flicker lightbulbs.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Greg-Ito_GI1096_1653427350-1431x2000.jpg)
![This image depicts an artwork by Greg Ito titled "The Guardian." This artwork was created in 2018 and measures 21" x 34" x 21" [HxWxD] (53.34 x 86.36 x 53.34 cm). Its medium is Acrylic, uv protective varnish, and neon on cast resin.](https://anatebgi.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Greg-Ito_GI1100_1653427372.jpg)
