Artist Greg Ito and gallerist Anat Ebgi on family, collaboration, and their ambitious Hong Kong plans

Anat Ebgi trusts her relationships. More than any singular artist or exhibition she has shown since starting her gallery, it’s the community she has developed that defines both her working practice and vision. Studio visit after studio visit, show after show, Ebgi has grown her presence in Los Angeles on honest instincts and the friendships that follow. ‘You doubt, you out,’ she says with a laugh.

The gallery recently expanded from its initial location in Culver City to include a second space just a couple of blocks from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In October, the new Anat Ebgi will hold its first solo show with works by LA’s own Greg Ito. Ito’s paintings, sculptures, and installations are immersive worlds of richly saturated color and an ever-evolving symbolic language. What at first glance appear to be planar landscapes populated with graphic motifs quickly deepen as the observer realizes the works’ references to cataclysm; in 2020, Ito's work was saturated with the inescapable themes of wildfire, flooding, and mortality. 

Such vivid artwork grabs attention and immediately invites people into its world. It therefore makes sense that Ito will be showing recent paintings and sculptures with Ebgi’s gallery at Art Basel Hong Kong 2021 and online as part of 'Art Basel Hong Kong: Live'. But that is not why Ebgi is committed to featuring Ito in an art fair context. Once again, it has more to do with the camaraderie of true collaboration.

Ito and Ebgi met in 2019, during a casual studio visit that quickly revealed an authentic affinity. ‘I just knew that I had something special working with this gallery,’ says Ito. ‘There is a sincerity in our relationship.’ That sincerity is more than a devotion to a career. As Ebgi explains, ‘When I met Greg, he said: "The end result [I want from my relationship with your gallery] is not my fame. It’s building my home, the community of my friends, and the community of my family." That was a refreshing outlook from an artist that I really responded to.’

The bond between the two has taken an especially meaningful turn in recent months, as Ito became a father. ‘I had all these ideas,’ Ito notes, ‘and then Anat said, "Keep thinking about that, it’s going to change when you have a kid – and I know because I’m a mother." And it has changed so much. Some of the symbols I had in my paintings before have a totally different meaning now.”

Those changes will be on display in Hong Kong. The presentation, titled ‘The Arrival of Spring,’ picks up where a 2020 Frieze solo booth left off. While that show had sculptural furniture evoking a burnt forest, this one includes a similarly charred chair, but with a sprouting plant in the seat. The sprout is a recent addition to Ito’s symbolic lexicon, and emphasizes the profound significance of parenthood to the artist: His daughter’s name is Spring.

Both Ito and Ebgi see the Hong Kong fair as a fitting next step in their work together. ‘We’re very excited about Hong Kong,’ says Ebgi. “We really want to collaborate with people there, and Greg’s work is perfect for it. People can connect with it – they’re not just pretty paintings. There’s destruction and death, but there’s also hope and love and life.”

Ito adds, ‘A lot of artists have preconceived notions of where they should go, and it’s always New York, LA, Europe. I’m Japanese-American, so my attention is on Asia. I connect with that on a personal level. I’m getting excited to do more projects in that part of the world.’

As Ito considers his family history and future as inextricable elements of his art, his relationship with Ebgi gets happily woven in. ‘It all ties into my life experiences. Building a family, and also my art family, with the gallery. Anat’s offering baby chairs and stuff like that to me, you know what I mean?’

Ebgi interjects, ‘Oh, and I have a car seat for you in the back, don’t let me forget.’

‘See!” says Ito. ‘We really look after each other.’

Anat Ebgi will participate in Art Basel Hong Kong's Discoveries sector for the first time with a solo presentation by Ito. The fair will run from May 19–23 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, as well as online on www.artbasel.com/hong-kong. 

Nicholas Nauman is a writer based in Los Angeles.

Top image: Greg Ito, Paradise (detail), 2021. Photo by Michael Underwood. Courtesy of the artist and Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles.