26 February – 1 March 2026

Santa Monica Airport, Los Angeles

Olney Gleason is pleased to participate in Frieze Los Angeles with a two person presentation pairing Kour Pour (b. 1987, England) and Bosco Sodi (b. 1970, Mexico). Informed by the histories of global cultural exchange, both artists engage the traditions of ceramics with distinct, resonant approaches. The featured works span painting, printmaking, and sculpture, reflecting an interconnected evolution of visual languages across time and place. This is the gallery’s first presentation with Los Angeles-based Kour Pour, who will present a solo exhibition at Olney Gleason in New York in 2027.

Pour, who works primarily in painting and printmaking, will debut a new series of erasure paintings drawing on imagery from the history of traditional Chinese painted porcelain. These works continue an evolution from several major series by the artist that have employed varied ancient graphics and iconography including Islamic patterning, Japanese woodblock prints, and Korean folk art. Sodi, whose practice is characterized by the use of natural materials across sculpture, painting, and installation, will present five clay sculptures finished with a gold glaze. These include several large-scale spheres previously exhibited in the Buddhist Sculpture and Early Chinese Art galleries at the Harvard Art Museums (2024–2025) and a stacked work composed of four cubic elements, included in the artist’s retrospective at the He Museum, China (2024–2025.) 

In his Porcelain Paintings, Pour combines geometric patterning with narrative imagery drawn from historical sources, including Chinese painting and ceramics, Persian miniatures, and, more recently, European traditions such as Dutch Delftware. Reproducing these motifs through silkscreen on canvas in traditional cobalt blue, the artist then subjects the composition to a process of erasure using water and cloth, in which image, symbol, and surface are gradually destabilized. Sodi, by contrast, works directly with clay, drawing on ancient traditions of shaping and firing, and applying gold glaze – long associated with sculpture in religious contexts across Buddhism and Hinduism – to forms of extreme simplicity that engage the tenets of Minimalism.

Chance and the limits of artistic control further link the two practices. In Pour’s work, the act of wiping becomes a generative gesture: images are partially dissolved through water and cloth, allowing erasure to rework the composition beyond the artist’s direct control. Sodi similarly embraces unpredictability, as his terracotta forms are shaped by the uncontrollable forces of nature during drying and firing – the sun, sea air, and fire – before being sealed beneath a gold glaze whose final effects resist even the most skilled ceramicists.

Beyond their studio practices, Pour and Sodi maintain expansive, multidisciplinary engagements rooted in community building. Pour operates Guest House, a project space within his Inglewood studio complex that supports immigrant and diaspora artists with exhibitions, residencies, and public programs. Sodi founded Casa Wabi in 2014, a nonprofit residency and exhibition platform fostering local community development and dialogue, with locations in Puerto Escondido, Mexico City, and Tokyo. 

About Kour Pour

Kour Pour (b. 1987, Exeter, England) draws on a wide range of global visual traditions and histories. His practice spans painting, printmaking, and mixed media, often blending imagery and techniques sourced from diverse artistic lineages – including Persian carpets and Japanese woodblock prints – into layered compositions that reflect his experience of cultural exchange and hybrid identity. Pour holds a BFA from Otis College of Art and Design and has exhibited internationally in museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, and Asia. His work is in many public and private collections worldwide, including Orange County Museum of Art, California; Crocker Art Museum, California; Perez Art Museum Miami, Florida; The Bunker Artspace, Florida; Hood Museum of Art, New Hampshire; and Art Jameel Collection, UAE; Durjoy Bangladesh Foundation, Bangladesh; and Yageo Foundation, Taiwan.

About Bosco Sodi

Bosco Sodi (b. 1970, Mexico City) is a Mexican contemporary artist known for his richly textured paintings, sculptural works, and large-scale installations that emphasize materiality, process, and the unpredictable effects of nature. Working across painting, sculpture, and clay, Sodi employs natural materials such as raw pigments, sawdust, fibers, and earth, allowing environmental forces to shape the outcome of his work in ways that highlight impermanence and chance. His work is influenced by movements such as Arte Povera and minimalism, as well as the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi, and is included in major public and private collections worldwide including the JUMEX Collection, Mexico; the Contemporary Art Foundation, Japan; Harvard Art Museums, Massachusetts; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; Nasher Sculpture Center, Texas; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Walker Art Center, Minnesota; Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Connecticut; the New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, among others.