Artissima

Sebastian Black often works in series, using the iterative capacity of painting to plumb subtle principles of representation and perception. His richly colored geometric compositions entwine figure and ground, melding these basic elements of the visual field in playful, rhythmic, and alluring patterns. Another recent body of work depicts modern figures absorbed in reading books, even as colossal hands cradle them and illuminate their surroundings with giant lit matches—an allusion to the godlike powers that authors and artists exert over their creations, as well as their audiences’ imaginations.

Sebastian Black (b. 1985, New York, NY) is an artist and writer. His work is held in numerous public collections including the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), Mamco (Geneva), Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), and Modern Forms (London). His writing has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, Bomb, Art in America, and Guernica. His debut novel Circle & Square was published by Triangle Books in 2023. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Minami Kobayashi layers delicate strands of oil paint and chalk pastel to render dreamy still lifes, landscapes, and quotidian narrative scenes. In her latest suite of artworks, presented here for the first time, Kobayashi records and extrapolates upon her recent residency in Rome (organized by gallerist Alice Amati). Weaving together fact, memory, symbolism, and myth, Kobayashi deploys an imaginary cohort of Dominican nuns as her protagonists. She shows them touring the subterranean rooms of the Basilica di San Clemente, trekking through the forests of Monte Circeo, enjoying quiet moments of repose, and being drawn away by the promise of new acquaintances.

Minami Kobayashi (b. 1989 Nagoya, JP) lives and works in London. She studied at the Tokyo University of the Arts and School of the Art Institute, Chicago. Selected solo show include Bel Ami Gallery, Los Angels (2025); Frestonian Gallery, London (2024); Frestonian Gallery, London (2023); Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago (2022); Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago (2019); Kate’s Little Angel, Los Angeles (2019); Baby Blue Gallery, Chicago (2017); and Gallery TANNE, Tokyo (2015). Recent group shows include We Almost Forgot, Long Story Short, New York (2024); Panta Rhei, Alice Amati, London (2024); Loose Threads, Bombon Project Gallery, Barcelona (2024); Friends and Lovers, Shulamit Nazarian Gallery, Los Angeles (2023); Et Al. Gallery, San Francisco (2023); Trio show, Dinner Party Gallery, London (2022); Lovely, OIL Gallery by Bijyutsu Techo, Tokyo (2022); Beyond Each Other, Florence Trust, London (2021); Tender the Bone, Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago (2021); Glimpse, lvl3 Gallery, Chicago (2021); CAVE CANEM, Eve Leibe Gallery, London (2021); New-laid eggs vol.3,GALLERY MoMo Ryogoku, Tokyo (2020); Birds shun such trees, Et al. Gallery, San Francisco (2020); A Peripheral Reverie, Penske Project, Montecito (2020); Anecdote, Stems Gallery, Brussels (2020); and Place out of Time, Setouchi Triennial 2019, Kagawa (2019).