On Wednesday, July 6th from 6:00 – 8:00pm, please join Arcana in celebration of the collaborative work of Shio Kusaka and Jonas Wood. Ms. Kusaka and Mr. Wood draw from each others work as painter and potter to probe the tensions between representation and expression, precision and chance, and influences from art history and life. Kusaka’s porcelain vessels play muse to Wood’s drawn and painted interiors, while conversely their idiosyncratic forms and glazes owe something to his impulsive line. They draw from personal memory and their shared existence as a married couple – his half-objective, half-fictional Los Angeles landscapes and still lifes set in their studio on Culver City’s Blackwelder Street, and her painted patterns that allude to their young daughter’s fascination with dinosaurs.

The two share influences and imagery but embark on autonomous explorations of their respective media. Exhibited together, these symbiotic works reveal the autobiographical roots and layers of cross-pollination that inspire their creation. Shio Kusaka and Jonas Wood’s unique collaborative working process and artistic output are beautifully documented in the newly-published Gagosian and Rizzoli monograph Blackwelder.