BIOGRAPHY

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.

EXHIBITIONS

Frieze Los Angeles, February 13 – 16, 2020

CV

Greg Ito

1987

Born in Los Angeles, CA

Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

Education

2008

BFA, San Francisco Art Institute - SFAI

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions

2021

TBD, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA. (forthcoming)

2019

Enchantment, Division Gallery, Montreal, QC.

Lock and Key, Smart Objects, Los Angeles, CA. (two person w/ Michael Stasis)

The Garden, Penske Projects, Los Angeles, CA.

A Swamp Tale, No Place Gallery, Columbus, OH.

One Way Out, The Drake Hotel, Toronto, ON.

Enchantment, Arsenal Contemporary, Toronto, ON.

2018

Time Traveller, Public Lands, Sacramento, CA.

Hallowed Ground, ArtCubed, Los Angeles, CA.

Sun Sprawl (w/ Mario Ayala), Club Pro, Los Angeles, CA.

2017

Lullaby, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL.

2016

Soothsayer, Steve Turner, Los Angeles, CA.

2015

THE ORDER OF SHADOWBOXING (w/ Alex Ito), Et al., San Francisco, CA.

AFTER GRUEN (w/ Alex Ito), S-A-D-E, Los Angeles, CA.

2014

CHILDREN (w/ Chris Lux), Mission Comics, San Francisco, CA.

Heavy Withdrawals, City Limits, Oakland, CA.

Something Other Than, (w/ Jonah Susskind) - The Hills Esthetic Center, Chicago, IL.

2013

and when you thought it would last forever..., The Popular Workshop, San Francisco, CA.

There is No Telling What..., (w/ Carey Lin), Truesilver Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

2012

Moonstruck, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

2011

Horizon’s Passing, Water McBeer Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

Point of Vision, Gallery Hijinks, San Francisco, CA.

Story of the Time Tellers, Free Gold Watch, San Francisco, CA.

2010

The Path to Dyad (w/ Korakrit Arunanondchai), Kokoro Studio, San Francisco, CA.

2008

At Lands’ End, (w/ Christian Ebert), The Klimm Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

Group Exhibitions

2020

Group Exhibition, Commune, Tokyo. (forthcoming)

L.A. Views, Maki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

Good Company: Pt. 1, Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA

Group Exhibition, Patel Gallery, Toronto, ON. (forthcoming)

2019

The Passenger, Klowden Mann, Los Angeles, CA

Art Toronto, with Galerie Division, Montreal, QC.

Sanctuary, Fused Space, San Francisco, CA.

Biophilia, Maake Magazine, Yucca Valley, CA.

Temporary Resting Place, Three Four Three Four, New York, NY.

2018

The Private Collection of Water McBeer, Jeffery Deitch, New York, NY.

Divided Brain (group), Lava Projects, Los Angeles, CA.

Innocence, Super Dutchess, New York, NY.

Note G, Chicago Manual of Style, Chicago, IL.

Sun Kissed Chokehold, Y53, Los Angeles, CA.

2017

Broken Language, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA.

EXPAT, R/SF, San Francisco, CA.

Made in San Francisco, Romer Young, San Francisco, CA.

2016

It Started With A Rose, 315 Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Curated by Cecilia Salama.

Summer Fling: The Barn Show, Johannes Vogt, East Hampton, NY.

8) Lauren Elder, Greg Ito, Kara Joslyn, SPF15, San Diego, CA.

Over and Under (w/ Adam Cruces and Louisa Gagliardi), MON CHÉRI, Brussels, Belgium.

2015

Time Flies Like A Banana (w/ Ron Ewert & Josh Reames), Johannes Vogt, New York, NY.

Casual Friday, VACANCY, Los Angeles, CA.

PRTY PPL, Circuit 12, Dallas, TX. Curated by Josh Reames.

2014

Effeminaries, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL. Curated by Matt Morris.

BAN7, YBCA - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA.

Battery Vol. III - The Battery, San Francisco, CA.

2013

Another APP Store, Sol, Sacramento, CA.

2012

New World, New Sequence, YBCA - Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA.

Ancient-Future-Super-Natural, Ictus Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

Nothing is True, Nothing is Untrue, Sherwood Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

2011

Seven years of MoPA, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO.

Bay Area Currents, Pro Arts, Oakland, CA.

Linear Empires, White Walls, San Francisco, CA.

2010

Mountain’s Folding, Mountain Fold, New York, NY.

So Much is Burning, Heist Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

2009

MoPA, The Lab, San Francisco, CA.

Introductions, Root Division, San Francisco, CA.

4th National Juried Exhibition, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA.

Joyride - BFF09, San Francisco, CA.

When Times Converge, Empire Seven Studios, San Jose, CA.

2008

We, Oakland, CA

Architects of the Unknown, San Francisco, CA.

Ways and Means, San Francisco, CA.

2007

Camera 1 Camera 2, The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco, CA.

International Karaoke, San Francisco, CA.

Fairs

2021

Art Basel Hong King, with Anat Ebgi, Hong Kong, China (forthcoming)

2020

Frieze Los Angeles, with Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA.

2019

Art Toronto, with Galerie Division, Canada.

NADA, with Galerie Division, Canada.

FOG Design+Art w/ Park Life, San Francisco, CA.

2018

ALAC w/ Club Pro, Los Angeles, CA.

Material Art Fair w/ R/SF, San Francisco, CA.

Selected Press

2020

Ito, Greg. "The Seer." LALA Magazine. Summer 2020. [Print] (Link)

Preston Zappas, Lindsay. "Art Insider: Artist sets up sign-making stations at LA protests." KCRW. June 9, 2020. (Link)

Voon, Claire. "7 Artists on Creating New Work during Quarantine." Artsy. May 5, 2020. (Link)

Freeman, Nate. "Frieze Los Angeles Opens With Big Sales to Mega-Celebrities and Hollywood Muscle Alike." artnet. February 14, 2020. (Link)

Reizman, Renée. "This Year, Frieze Los Angeles Feels Grand, Celebratory, and Actually Kind of Fun." Hyperallergic. February 14, 2020. (Link)

Sutton, Benjamin. "The Ten Best Booths at Frieze Los Angeles." Artsy. February 14, 2020. (Link)

2019

Boddington, Ruby. "Greg Ito’s meticulous portfolio of paintings explores 'time, love, loss, hope, and tragedy'," It's Nice That. (Link)

Ghassemitari, Shawn. "All the Interesting Things Happen at the Transitions," Amadeus. (Link)

Fischer, Jim. "Arts Preview: Greg Ito: ‘A Swamp Tale’," Columbus Alive. (Link)

2018

Kelley, Sonaiya. "When artist Greg Ito collaborates with ‘Top Chef’s’ Richard Blais, you get ArtxFood," Los Angeles Times. (Link)

2017

Anderson, Alex. "Greg Ito Offers a Pictoral Language for our Dreams," Artslant. (Link)

Awards/Residencies

2019

The Macedonia Institute Residency, Hudson Valley, NY. (forthcoming)

2013

LOOP Arts Award, Oakland, CA.

Truesilver Residency, San Francisco, CA.

2011

SECA Honorary Committee Member, San Francisco, CA.

Collections

The Fidelity Collection

Hallmark Art Collection