On view: April 11 - June 1, 2026

Galleri Urbane is pleased to announce The Space Between Pearls and Stars, an upcoming solo exhibition by LA-based artist Samantha McCurdy. This marks the artist’s fifth solo show with the gallery.

An essay by writer Eve Hill-Agnus accompanies the exhibition.

In Samantha McCurdy’s multivalent practice, forms that could be seen as simple — elemental, minimal — bring us to places that are intuitive, deeply human, profound.

Her exhibition The Space Between Pearls and Stars extends just such a powerful invitation into broad and subtle territory. The title derives from a smaller work made several years ago — a modest row of eight-by-four-inch pieces, in which McCurdy introduced pearlescent color into her practice. The phrase has stayed with her, gathering meaning. “Pearls are the ocean and stars are the sky,” she says, “and our existence is in between — depth on either side.” For this exhibition, she has returned to the namesake piece, at larger scale: a row of six forms fitted together, sharing a pearlescent sheen but each harboring its own hue — lilac, red, blue, yellow, a minty green. Viewed head-on, the work resolves into white; only as the viewer moves and light shifts across the surfaces does their iridescent individuality stand out. The phenomenon is evanescent and conditional — it depends on position, on angle, on the willingness to look from somewhere other than straight ahead.

The Space Between Pearls and Stars – 27 x 88 x 3.5 inches

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Such conditionality is integral to McCurdy's formal thinking. She has long worked in wood, canvas, and latex, building forms that protrude from or recess into the picture plane, playing with depth of field. A series of hollow pieces debuting here take that further. Mysterious, they confound our perception even as they spark imagination. The interior is simply unavailable.

McCurdy thinks in terms of landscape: many of her multi-panel works evoke a horizon line, that elemental division of land, sea, and sky, depth and expanse. But also in terms of personhood. The abstract shapes of her compositions have human stories behind them or “a way of looking at something in the world.” A two-panel work born from watching two people embracing as she bought coffee, for instance; another prompted by the sight of someone stacking wood, or trash: the myriad ways bodies and objects come together in relation to each other. “People are always going to be my favorite topic,” she says. “It's infinite. One of the only mysteries left that can't be scientifically defined.”

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The iridescent palette amplifies this. Pearl and metallic finishes force scrutiny despite their etherealness. The most elusive surfaces require the most rigorous attention. Which is also, in the end, an act and proof of faith in the viewer. The Space Between Pearls and Stars is, among other things, an account of that relationship. In her practice, McCurdy gives us a glimpse of the secret lives of objects. Pearls in the ocean. Stars in the sky. We, somewhere in between.

Substituting traditional canvas for thin, stretchable spandex, the works call to mind form-fitting attributes of yoga pants or a swimsuit. Hidden behind the painted stretched fabric, each painting conceals spherical objects that bulge beyond the confines of the rectangular frame. Painted in vivid tones of orange and pink, or a nude that more directly alludes to a human figure, viewers are enticed to imagine what remains concealed. Tightly arranged, each work’s protrusions extend to its neighbor and seemingly reach for physical contact but ultimately never overstep that boundary. Each painting creates moments of tension through its invitation to imagine what lies hidden underneath the delicate surface and through its suggestive physical orientation, all the while maintaining its own unwavering agency.

Living and working in Los Angeles, Samantha McCurdy is a native of Philadelphia and graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Her work has been included in gallery exhibitions in Philadelphia, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, Paris, and New York City. McCurdy recently presented a solo booth at Spring/Break Art Fair L.A premiering a performance piece and has participated in their 2023 showcase presenting new sculptures. She was selected by the Standard Hotel curatorial staff to create a site-specific installation located in their lobby. McCurdy has exhibited in group presentations at the Dallas Art Fair, Aspen Art Fair, Art New York, and Untitled, Miami. She has also exhibited four solo exhibitions at Galleri Urbane. In addition to her own practice, Samantha runs an art space and intellectual pavilion called That That, which she uses to collaborate and curate group and solo exhibitions with her peers.