EMMA BLACK 'WHERE WE FADE - XUE WANG 'PRIVATE EDEN' - RICHARD AHNERT 'HOUSE BROKEN'
WHERE: Copro Gallery - Bergamot Station Arts Complex
2525 Michigan Ave , Unit T5, Santa Monica , CA 90404
Ph: 310/829-2156
E-Mail: CoproGallery@Live.com
Web: www.CoproGallery.com
BLAB! Web-Preview
WHAT: EMMA BLACK 'WHERE WE FADE - XUE WANG 'PRIVATE EDEN' - RICHARD AHNERT 'HOUSE BROKEN'
WHEN: Exhibit runs; March 7 – March 26, 2026
Opening Reception: Saturday March 7, 2026 - 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Contact: Gary Pressman, Gallery Director - Copro Gallery
Copro Gallery presents a Spring art exhibition featuring 3 artists Emma Black (UK), Xue Wang (UK), Richard Ahnert (Canada) All three artists explore themes of emotion, metaphor, and narrative with a satirical dark twist.
EMMA BLACK 'WHERE WE FADE' explores the human body as something encountered, misunderstood, and
repurposed through a lens of innocence rather than cruelty. The paintings imagine a quiet narrative
in which an outsider — almost alien in perspective — discovers a decaying human form and
responds not with fear or violence, but with fascination. What follows is an attempt to preserve,
display, and care for what is perceived as precious, without fully understanding the boundaries
being crossed.
Across the series, bodies are fragmented and transformed into objects of ornamentation. These
forms echo domestic rituals of display — table settings, decorations, keepsakes — drawing on
human behaviours such as collecting bones, preserving remains, and transforming them into
objects of reverence.
Alongside this imagined narrative, the work can also be read more personally — as a reflection on
emotional depletion and imbalance. The repurposed bodies mirror the experience of giving too
much of oneself to another, only to be slowly hollowed out through care that is unintentional,
unreciprocated, or unaware. In this reading, the alien logic becomes a metaphor for relationships in
which harm is not caused deliberately, but through a lack of understanding, presence, or
recognition of what is being taken.
The work sits deliberately in the uneasy space between care and transgression. The figures are
not treated violently, but attentively — adorned with pearls, flowers, and confectionery, surrounded
by colour and sweetness. This visual attractiveness is intentional, creating tension between what
feels inviting and what feels deeply unsettling. By pairing bright, almost celebratory colour palettes
with imagery of decay and bodily fragmentation, the paintings ask how easily beauty can coexist
with discomfort, and how intention alone does not absolve harm.
Ultimately, this series reflects on preservation, misunderstanding, and the fragile line between
reverence and erosion — whether physical or emotional. It considers what happens when
something human is treated as an object of care without recognising its interior life, and how acts
performed gently, even lovingly, can still lead to loss when boundaries are unseen or
unacknowledged.
BIO: Emma Black is a UK based artist. She graduated in 2012 from the University of Westminster with a First Class honours degree in Illustration, and in 2016 from the Cambridge School of Art with a MA in Fine Art. The unknown, whether an aspect of the physical world or a limitation of the human mind, is the main starting point for her work. Using traditional media and autobiographical themes, her practice explores notions of The Uncanny, human subconscious and our relationship to death and the natural world.
XUE WANG 'PRIVATE EDEN ' Any search for particular meaning in Xue Wangs' idiosyncratic work may not yield much. If one word were chosen to describe her paintings, it would be ‘provacative’.
We cannot escape the past and our sweet yesterdays, whether imaginary or real. They are my repository.
My paintings may superficially appear ‘cute’ but my intention is to unsettle, albeit subtly. As the creeping wasp on the fairy cake does." - Xue Wang
BIO - Xue Wang's artistic background was originally in fashion. After obtaining a BA degree in Fashion in China, she relocated to London in 2002 and finished her MA in the same field. Painting and drawing, playing around with ideas, juxtaposing images and allowing her imagination free rein have all helped guide her development as an artist. The self-reflective intimacy of art forced her transition from fashion to painting. Xue explains: "I see art as a more direct way to express my creative ideas." She has exhibited worldwide in many countries since 2010 and her paintings are coveted among international art collectors.
RICHARD AHNERT 'HOUSE BROKEN' Toronto-based artist Richard Ahnert takes anthropomorphic painting to a new level, lacing them with a quiet, yet unmistakable animism – an abiding kinship between human and animal. It's a whimsical collection capturing animals in unexpected, out-of-context situations. With a voyeuristic quality and understated humor, each painting blends the familiar with the surreal.
BIO - Richard graduated with honors from the Arts York Program at Unionville HS with a Major in Visual Arts and went on to study Technical Illustration and Graphic Design at York University and Seneca College, graduating with the Presidents Honor Roll for Highest Academic Achievement. With a drive to explore and evolve as an artist, He continues studies and workshops ongoing to help define his style and practice.Richard began exhibiting his work in 2010 and has shown in exhibitions and galleries in both Canada and the States. His work has won awards and can be found in private collections and businesses around the world.
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