Welcome to Unit

Sign up for updates on exhibitions, artists and events.

Seth Armstrong

B.1983 Based in Los Angeles, USA

Introduction

Whether he is painting urban landscapes, narrative portraits, or combining elements of the two, Seth Armstrong’s work conveys a sense of intimacy with its subjects. From the art historical legacy of both the Dutch Renaissance and the California plein air movement of the early 20th century, Armstrong has derived a fascination with the affecting emotional quality of warm and cold light and complete shadows.

 

 

Education

2006 California College of the Arts, San Francisco, USA

2005 Academie Minerva, Groningen, Netherlands

 

 

Solo Exhibitions

2021
Overlook, Unit, London, UK

2020
New Work, Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico 

2018
Li’l Baja’s Last Ride, Museum of Art and History (MOAH), Lancaster, USA

2017
Pretty Deep Shit, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2015
The Air is Thick, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2013
Lovin’ Thy Neighbour, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2011
Another Thing Coming, Gallery Heist, San Francisco, USA

2010
Well There You Are, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2008
Where So Ever You May Go, Rowan Morrison Gallery, Oakland, USA

2006
The Bible and Stuff, Bruce Galleries, San Francisco, USA

2005
The Tour, Papa Dutch Gallery, Groningen, Netherlands

 

Group Exhibitions

2023
Project M/19: Loneliness and other false friends, curated by Michelle Houston, Urban Nation, Berlin, Germany
Art SG, Unit, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

2022
Nassima Landau, Tel Aviv, Israel

2020
Drawn Together, Unit, London, UK
Angels In the Architecture, Talon Gallery, Portland, USA
15 Years of Thinkspace, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2019
Context Contemporary Art Fair, Hashimoto Contemporary, Miami, USA
Scope International Contemporary Art Fair, Miami Beach, USA
12 x 12,
Spoke Art Gallery, New York, USA
Celestial Spaces,
Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico
LAX/ORD II, Vertical Gallery, Chicago, USA
Scenic Overlook, Evoke Contemporary, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2018
Wish You Were Here, Stolen Space Gallery, London, UK
12 x 12, S
cope Art Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Pow!Wow! Exploring the New Contemporary Art Movement,
Honolulu Museum of Art School, Honolulu, USA
Illustrating Resistance,
Hubbell Street Gallery, California College of the Arts, San Francisco, USA

Illustrators 60, Museum of American Illustration, New York, USA

2017
Scope Miami Beach, Miami Beach, USA
LAX/JFK,
Scope Art, New York, USA
Drinkin’ Smokin’ West Coastin’,
Think Tank Projects, Los Angels, USA
LAX/DTW: Detroit Hustle II, Inner State Gallery, Detroit, USA

2016
Scope Miami, Miami, USA
LAX/ORD,
Vertical Gallery, Chicago, USA
Scope International, 
Art Fair, New York, USA
Far From Me, Josef Filipp Galerie, Leipzig, Germany

2015
LAX/LHR, StolenSpace Gallery, London, UK
Invisible College,
Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, USA
LAX/DTW,
Inner State Gallery, Detroit, USA
Decade 1,
Redletter1, Tampa Bay, USA
Small Works,
Baker Hesseldenz Fine Art, Tucson, USA
20 Years Under the Influence Of Juxtapoz,
Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, LA, USA
10 Years Of Thinkspace,
Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2014
LAX/SFO, Hashimoto Contemporary, San Francisco, USA
LAX/TXL, Urban Nation, Berlin, Germany
Scope NY, Skylight at Moynihan Station, New York, USA
Pow! Wow! Exploring the New Contemporary Art Movement, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, USA

2013
Scope Miami Beach, Scope Pavillion, Miami Beach, USA
LAX/PHIL, Gallery 309, Philadelphia, USA
Vanguard, Thinkspace Gallery, LA, USA
Kindred, Bold Hype Gallery, New York, USA

2012
Synergy, Spoke Art, San Francisco, USA
Wild At Heart, Thinkspace Gallery, Los Angeles, USA

2011
Alcatraz Symposium on Justice & Freedom, Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, USA
Beyond Eden, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Impetus, Joseph Gross Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
There It Is: Brett Amory, Adam Caldwell, and Seth Armstrong, Thinkspace Gallery, LA, USA

2010
111 @ 111, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Till Death Do Us Part, Gallery Heist, San Francisco, USA
The Next Generation, London Miles Gallery, London, UK
Fort Big Mountain, Seth Armstrong and Christopher Russell, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, USA

2009
Aqua Art Miami, Wynwood, Miami, USA
Now or Never, Gallery Heist, San Francisco, USA
Insert Metaphor Here, Seth Armstrong and Adam 5100, Redletter 1, Tampa Bay, USA

2008
Vanguard at Art Basel, Thinkspace, Miami, USA
RoMoLoCoGroupShow, Rowan Morrison Gallery, Oakland, USA
Common Descent, Brett Amory, Seth Armstrong, Andrew Hem, and John Wentz, 111 Minna Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Bay Area Now and Later, Cricket Engine Gallery, Oakland, USA
My Vice, Space Gallery, San Fracisco, USA

2007
RoMoLoCoGroupShow, Rowan Morrison Gallery, Oakland, USA
Grounded?, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, USA
In Your Eyes, The Rec Center, Los Angeles, USA
Artfes, Gallery One, San Francisco, USA

Modern Myths, MJ Higgins Gallery and Grey Area Gallery, Los Angeles – San Francisco, USA

2006
Emerge, GenArtSF, San Francisco, USA
You, Me, Now
, Hangar 1018, Los Angeles, USA

Velotree, Space Gallery, San Francisco, USA

2005
Expo, Bruce Galleries, San Francisco, USA
The Day Before I Leave, Hangar 1018, Los Angeles, USA
The Foreigners Paint Good, Academie Minerva, Groningen, Netherlands

2004
Them Apples, Center Gallery, Oakland, USA

 

 

Selected Press

2021
April ‘Light Casts a Magical Glow on the Residential Hills of Los Angeles in Paintings by Seth Armstrong’, Colossal

2020
August ‘Well There You Are’ Solo Show – Seth Armstrong’, Redefine Magazine
April ‘Artist Spotlight: Seth Armstrong’, Booooooom
‘Los Angeles in Set Armstrong’s paintings’, Collater.al 

2017
April ‘Seth Armstrong and Brian Mashburn Present their Art at Thinkspace’, Widewalls

2016
January ‘Seth Armstrong paints a fine line between intimacy and trespass with voyeuristic curiosity’, Creative Boom

2015
April ‘Seth Armstrong takes us on a tense ride from action flick glamour to domestic drama…’, We Heart
September ‘Cages. Seth Armstrong’, The Artsy Forager
March ‘Seth Armstrong: The Air is Thick’, Widewalls
‘The Air Is Thick – Seth Armstrong’s New Work’, Art Nerd Los Angeles

2014
October ‘Super beautiful work from Los Angeles-based painter Seth Armstrong’, It’s Nice That
August ‘Seth Armstrong’s novel locations for classic literature – in pictures’, The Guardian

2013
October ‘Seth Armstrong “Lovin’ Thy Neighbor” @ Thinkspace Gallery, Culver City’, Juxtapoz Magazine
‘It’s a Physical Thing: Seth Armstrong Talks Painting’, Cultural Weekly
April ‘Thinkspace Gallery Presents: “Vanguard” A Group Exhibition’, Brooklyn Street Art

2011
May ‘An Interview with Seth Armstrong’, Hi-Fructose Magazine
March ‘Seth Armstrong Hyper-Realistic Painting’, Trendland

 

Selected Collections

Urban Nation Museum, Berlin, Germany
Miniature Museum of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, Netherlands