Time is a common theme in Kelly Akashi’s work. Doilies inherited from her grandmother represent the past. The artist’s hands, cast in bronze, serve as timestamps for the present—  lines and wrinkles marking specific moments. Cast bronze seed pods represent the future, though against the backdrop of the Los Angeles fires, we’re reminded that some pinecones don’t express seeds unless exposed to heat.

Having lost her studio in the January fires, Akashi cast artifacts found in the wreckage, incorporating them into a series of new mixed-media sculptures. The weathering steel desk in Monument (2025), resembles the grain of dark wood office furniture from a distance, but suggests scorched earth upon closer inspection. Waterjet cut patterns in the metal mirror those of the doilies scattered throughout the show – a play of binaries: hard and soft, masculine and feminine, permanent and ephemeral.

The cast-bronze pinecones in the Monument series leave the viewer with a sense of hope and renewal, giving the “Phoenix Rising From the Ashes” vibe that Los Angeles needs right now.

Kelly Akashi
Lisson Gallery
1037 N. Sycamore Ave.,
Los Angeles, CA 90038
On view through March 29, 2025