Opening in person Saturday, 26 October 2024, 6 pm - 9 pm with a live performance by V. Torres and special guest Megg at The Studio at 8 pm. The show will end on Sunday, 10 November. Shockboxx Gallery, known for pushing the boundaries, presents the group art show "WOMAN'S WORK." Situated in the Cypress Arts District of Hermosa Beach, California, ShockBoxx Gallery serves as a pivotal center in the South Bay for artists, curators, collectors, and art aficionados to unite and promote the arts. Established in March 2017 by Mike Collins and Laura Schuler, ShockBoxx is celebrated for its monthly group and solo exhibitions that showcase a variety of emerging and established artists, offering a continuous flow of fresh artistic influence. By the curator Kymm Swank: "I have a print hanging in my studio depicting a stiletto pump with the phrase “Make the shackles pretty enough, and they will wear them gladly.” And yet, I absolutely adore 5” heels. I find it fascinating how women see or feel our identities and experiences with all the inherent ambivalence, contradictions, and nuance. The representation of women is everywhere. We are constantly inundated with images of female bodies. Yet so much of the visual language depicting women is still centered around the commodification of our bodies, claiming to promote freedom and empowerment while still triggering the insecurity that creates better customers. How can you shatter the glass ceiling when it has been made into a mirror that distracts us with our reflections? For this show, I reached out to female artists and asked them for work that spoke to something integral to feminity or their experience of being a woman. I was curious about how women depict women and create visual narratives that express our ideas about femininity and what we value beyond our reflection in the insatiable mirror. The work in the show is materially diverse and includes pieces that convey unconventional representation, such as the jute and pine needle sculpture Burial by Bianca Gabrielle Goyette. Or the sea is another story, a web of white fabric, plaster, and paint tightly stretched and wrapped like gauze bandaging around wood by Joy Ray. The title WOMAN'S WORK came from a lyric from Woman, one of the songs on the album V. Torres will be playing in The Studio at the opening on October 26th. WOMAN'S WORK also references the limitations forced upon us and the historical marginalization of feminized spheres. The obvious example is female artists who chronically had their work excluded, devalued, or erased. But ultimately, WOMAN'S WORK is a celebration of how far those spheres have expanded with everything we still create and accomplish. And I am hopeful that in November, we will finally be able to burst those spheres wide open." Kymm Swank is a self-taught artist living in Los Angeles, CA. She works primarily in oils and acrylics. The bold work she creates explores abstract forms, urban texture, and structure through line and color. She currently lives in downtown Los Angeles, where the transforming skyline and city streets offer constant inspiration. She has shown her work throughout Southern California over the past 25 years, most recently at WallspaceLA, Shockboxx, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and Sonia & Co. in Laguna Beach. Her paintings can also be seen on the sets of numerous TV shows, including Insecure, Grace and Frankie, Newsroom, American Horror Story, and MadMen. V TORRES writes and sings songs of empowerment, which blend distinct guitar tones with soulfully truthful vocals and lyrics. Her sound has been coined as “where the desert meets the sea” and is a unique mix of her indie-rock, pop, and americana influences. She is currently putting the finishing touches on her upcoming sophomore record, which will include seven new original songs.