LOS ANGELES, CA.- The ICA San José will present To Give and Take, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles-based, Bay Area-trained artist Greg Ito, curated by Zoë Latzer. Opening September 18, 2026 and on view through February 21, 2027, the exhibition brings together new paintings, sculpture, and video installation that expand Itos distinctive visual language across mediums.
The exhibition marks an ambitious new chapter in Itos evolving practice. Inspired by Shel Silversteins The Giving Tree, a story Ito first encountered as a child and now experiences through the perspective of a parent, To Give and Take reflects on how our understanding of love, sacrifice, and responsibility shifts across generations. Following the birth of his daughter, Ito began considering the ways families sustain one another through cycles of care, loss, and renewal. The tree becomes a central metaphor throughout the exhibition: a source of nourishment and shelter, a record of time, and a symbol of what is passed from one generation to the next.
At once intimate and expansive, To Give and Take considers what we inherit, what we carry forward, and what we choose to leave behind. Through recurring symbols and personal narratives, the exhibition reflects on legacy as something continuously shaped through relationships, choices, and acts of generosity.
Greg Ito (b. 1987), lives and works in Los Angeles. Ito is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, and time-based media. Through these interconnected mediums, he constructs symbolic environments that merge personal narrative with broader cultural histories. His work often draws from his Japanese American family history, using storytelling rooted in this history as a point of entry to reflect on memory, resilience, and the shared complexities of our human condition.
Ito's work has been presented at institutions including the Frye Art Museum (Seattle), the Cantor Arts Center (Stanford), K11 Musea (Hong Kong), the Long Beach Museum of Art (Long Beach), the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego), and Rockefeller Center (New York) with Art Production Fund. His work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles), the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (Miami), the Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento), the K11 Art Foundation (Hong Kong), East West Bank, Progressive Art Collection, and Cedars-Sinai, among others.