The Artist Residency, Series I
HVW8 Gallery returns to its roots with The Artist Residency, Series I, featuring artists Ava Maria and Ade Ogunmowo.
The Artist Residency is an ongoing series that reimagines the gallery as a working studio, inviting visitors to experience the creative process as it unfolds. Rather than presenting only completed works, the residency opens the doors to the artists’ practices, allowing audiences to witness paintings and new works develop in real time.
By creating an open studio environment, HVW8 aims to demystify the artistic process and encourage a deeper connection between artists, artworks, and the community. Visitors are invited to engage, ask questions, and experience the evolution of each artist’s practice firsthand.
The residency opens Sunday, August 9, from 1–6 PM and continues through August 23 during regular gallery hours:
Wednesday–Sunday
1–6 PM
Every Sunday from 2–5 PM, the gallery will host special musical guests and live sessions, bringing together art, music, and community within the residency space.
“The Artist Residency will be documented throughout the series by ARTV (Artist Run TV), creating an ongoing archive of the artists’ process and the residency experience.
Ade Ogunmowo
Ade Ogunmowo (b. 1989) is a multidisciplinary artist from Los Angeles whose practice spans painting, sculpture, installation, video, and performance. Drawing from advertising, the internet, and street culture, his work constructs layered narratives that examine contemporary American life through humor, satire, and social observation.
Ade holds a degree in Advertising from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His early work combined photojournalism, design, and graffiti, helping establish him as an early voice in internet and meme culture. Beyond the gallery, his creative practice extends into fashion, design, and independent projects across the United States.
Working across vibrant color, symbolism, and cultural reference, Ade explores themes of race, inequality, identity, and contemporary behavior. Balancing humor with critical reflection, his work invites viewers to reconsider familiar narratives while engaging with the contradictions of everyday life.
Ava Maria
Ava Maria is a fine artist based in Los Angeles, originally from the Chicago suburbs. She received her BFA from UCLA in 2022, where her work began exploring the sacred world of the Other.
Her practice balances an intuitive and intentional oil painting process, layering color, natural symbolism, and light to create alternate realms inhabited by Black, otherworldly beings. Moments of intimacy, reflection, and emotional surrender are woven into these environments, creating spaces of spiritual transformation.
Drawing from both lived and imagined realities as a Queer Black woman, Ava’s work explores themes of safety, empowerment, and self-expression. The familiarity of these worlds becomes a portal toward possible realities where these truths and desires can be freely expressed.
