You Have Arrived, 2024
Acrylic on canvas

Installation view of Motion Pictures at Long Beach Museum of Art, 2024-25.

The Archive, 2024
Acrylic on canvas over panel

Detail of The Archive, 2024
Acrylic on canvas over panel

Installation view of Apparition at Anat Ebgi Gallery, Los Angeles, 2021.

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Japanese American culture has profoundly shaped my art. Growing up in LA, in a Japanese American community and within a mostly Japanese American family, I’ve always felt the rich influence of my heritage on my work.

If I had to name one person who influenced me the most, it would be my maternal grandfather. He was a creative soul. I grew up watching him craft funny little trinkets and paint birthday signs for our family in his workshop.

In many ways, my family was born from his artistry. My grandparents met and fell in love while they were interned in the Japanese American camps during World War II. My grandfather wooed my grandmother by gifting her little handmade wooden carvings, some of which I’ve included in my work. If it weren’t for those camps, they would never have met. Though it was a horrible situation, their love story reminds me how art can transcend and transform even the worst circumstances. That message is foundational to my work. Through art, we can filter through the uncertainty, pain, anger, and sadness of life to create objects that spark joy and love.

The artist’s studio. Courtesy of the artist.

Courtesy of the artist.

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For me, great art evokes a strong emotional response. It’s as if the artwork becomes a portal into your mind; when you leave the gallery, a small piece of you has changed. One artist who evoked that feeling in me was Mark Rothko. His color field paintings, with their simplistic compositions, deeply impacted me on a subconscious level. In my work, I replaced those color fields with open-ended symbols that a diverse audience can connect with.

The color palette and texture of my paintings are reminiscent of children’s storybooks—colorful, playful, and easy to read. However, that whimsy and vibrancy mask darker themes. Similar to Disney movies and other children’s media, I want my work to convey a deeper meaning while still being accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. While I integrate my personal history into my pieces, I invite my audience to insert their unique background into my work. I use these foundational stories and symbols to show that we are capable of coming together and finding the light in dark times.

Fire and flood are two recurring motifs in my work, both of which speak to resilience and transformation. Growing up in LA, wildfires are very common, and though they are devastating, they are often followed by a “super bloom,” when wildflowers blossom over previously charred landscapes. This destruction creates space for growth and the blooms represent resilience in times of crisis. Floods are another powerful symbol I use. In my 2024 exhibition Sink or Swim, I painted the gallery half-blue and lined up all of the paintings to that waterline. Visitors walked through the space as if submerged; everyone could see that we were in this flood together, all of us trying to keep our heads above water. Within this flood, I also placed elements of hope—such as a message in a bottle or a family photograph—reminding my audience that, with the help of our families and communities, we can stay afloat.

The artist’s studio. Courtesy of the artist.

Courtesy of the artist.

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My process starts with stream-of-consciousness doodles, and then I’ll sometimes make a tighter drawing with watercolor to plan out the color story. I usually go straight to the canvas after drafting it out.

I’ve always been a very flat painter. I’m drawn to crisp, pictorial scenes. I use house paints to achieve this flat look because they allow for a smooth, brushstroke-free surface, removing myself, as the painter, from the artwork. I originally started using them because they were cheap and easily accessible, and my grandfather had a stash of old buckets of paint that he used to make his signs and banners. Now, I enjoy finding new colors and adding them to my color library to use the same colors across my paintings. The colors become part of the DNA of my work.

I want to maximize everyone’s experience with my art as much as possible, so I gravitate toward projects where I can transform the entire exhibition space. In my 2021 show Apparition, I built a house in the gallery with live butterfly chrysalises that hatched and flew around the exhibition. It was beautiful to see my audience immersed in the space. Now, I’m experimenting with film to take my audience on a more visceral journey—where they can lose themselves in the imagery, sound, and storytelling. I’m excited to see where this new medium will take me.

Courtesy of the artist.

Written and interviewed by Amina Washington.

Amina Washington is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn, NY.

Courtesy of the artist.

Greg Ito

Greg Ito (b. 1987) is an artist based in Los Angeles, CA. He received a BFA from the 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; SPURS 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 public institutions including the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA; Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA Miami); K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).