On View
Modern Light
Kelly Nipper | Kim Manfredi | Kaori Fukuyama
October 3, 2025 - January 15, 2026
Curated by Elizabeth Armstrong
et galerie is pleased to present Modern Light, an exhibition showcasing three women artists working today in Southern California. A painter, a photographer, and an object maker — they are stunning colorists connected by their contemporary approach and a modern, inner light.
Their art manifests on different dimensions, infusing et galerie with bursts of energy and color and a physicality in balance with the cerebral calm of Jennifer Luce’s architectural studio space.
Kelly Nipper
Opium Poppy Stage 7, 2001-2
33 1/4 x 43 1/2 inches
Kelly Nipper
Los Angeles, CA
Kelly Nipper (b. 1971, Edina, Minnesota) engages lens-based technologies that, through duration and pressure, transform motion, figure, and space. Her work explores the dynamic interplay of scale, form, and proximity within time-based media. She integrates dance practices informed by scientific principles, positioning the human body as a technology rather than an expressive identity. From this perspective, her work maps the body in relation to the earths surface to explore how time can be spatialized. This broader strategy of imagining the possibilities of time stems from the idea that a single condition or environment can endlessly fracture itself into different shapes and forms.
“I am a visual artist who uses choreography to shape my ideas about space and time and weather and emotions.”
Kim Manfredi
Palm Springs, CA
Kim Manfredi (b.1964, Prince Georges, Maryland) is an American artist whose work moves fluidly between abstraction and representation, shaped by a deep engagement with art history, contemplative practice, and contemporary feminist discourse.
“I create paintings that move between abstraction and representation, street art and surrealism, the spiritual and the tangible. Rooted in art history, my work reflects contemporary ideas about painting while creating space for reflection and connection. These paintings reinterpret themes like light, stillness, and spirit through a feminist lens, exploring the layered complexities of identity and perception. I invite viewers to look closely. Through color and texture, my work becomes a sensory experience—one that encourages introspection and challenges inherited ways of seeing.”
Kaori Fukuyama
San Diego, CA
Kaori Fukuyama (b. 1979, Kumamoto, Japan) is a multi-disciplinary artist and an art educator, who explores the relationship between light, color and form.
“Light and shadow have a lasting impact on emotion, memory, and perception. Captivated by this, I recreate the harmony of light and dark that I observe in the natural world in abstract painting, sculptural objects, and site-responsive installation. My work is visually reductive, subtle, and open-ended. Rather than depicting a specific landscape or place, I free an object or space from its original context and guide viewers in the act of seeing and perceiving.”
Elizabeth Armstrong
Curator
Recognized for her long record of exhibitions and publications, Elizabeth Armstrong is committed to innovative art, artists, and curatorial practices. She has a particular interest in artists working outside of the conventional mainstream to create new forms and meanings. Armstrong’s curatorial work has been presented at museums around the U.S. and abroad, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Miami Art Museum, MCA Chicago, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, P.S. 1 (New York), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), Fundació Antonio Tàpies (Barcelona), and more.
Former Director of the Palm Springs Art Museum, Armstrong currently serves on the Board of the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts and lives in Southern California.
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