Spencer Finch, “Gorgeous Nothing 10,” 2026. Archival inkjet print and collage on paper. 18.1 × 16.5 cm 7⅛ × 6½ in. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Finding beauty in the ordinary isn’t always easy, but training our eyes to see it is a practice that can change one’s life. This is exactly what multidisciplinary artist Spencer Finch does in his new exhibition, Balboa of House and Garden.
The exhibition comprises more than 50 unique works on paper, as well as a skylight installation and an outdoor sculpture, all of which come together to train visitors’ eyes to the wonder and emotional resonance in day-to-day moments that might otherwise be overlooked. Finch stretches our imagination beyond the surface of these objects and into a world in which each small, ordinary thing can be precious, and what we might consider garbage is instead a moment frozen in time.
At the center of Balboa of House and Garden is Finch’s Gorgeous Nothings series, which takes inspiration from Emily Dickinson’s well-known habit of writing poems on envelopes and grocery lists, using the scraps of daily life to create wonder and beauty that has lasted for more than 100 years. Finch uses personal correspondence, junk mail, and other everyday objects, such as cardboard, lists, and envelopes, transforming them through watercolor, pastel, pencil, collage, and other forms of mixed media.
In Gorgeous Nothings 14, Finch has taken an ordinary envelope and collaged and drawn a flower onto it, with freehand loops branching out from the bloom. The whimsicality of the piece comes from its unselfconscious simplicity. In Gorgeous Nothing 48, he has taken another envelope and painted sheets hanging on a clothesline in watercolor and scrawled beneath them in pencil, “Laundry in sunlight.” The depiction of something so ordinary on an equally ordinary surface, and the delight of finding beauty in it, highlights the central idea behind Finch’s series.
The artist invites viewers to imagine a reality in which they, too, could find beauty in everyday moments. The pieces are installed along the gallery’s white walls, highlighting their small size against the vastness of the room and further emphasizing that invitation to look more closely. Installed on the ceiling is Finch’s site-specific skylight, which uses colored filters to change the light in the room, giving it the cooler appearance of Dickinson’s surroundings in Amherst, Massachusetts, and casting the works in her shadow.
The exhibition’s attention to overlooked materials extends beyond the gallery walls. Outside the gallery is Finch’s Wreck (Raft of the Medusa) (2026), a sculpture that repurposes a dumpster, reimagining Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa. The piece transforms the painting into a large, monumental sculpture using wood, rope, fabric, and a hatchet to evoke the experience of survivors of a shipwreck and those lost at sea. The arrangement of these materials has a similar effect to the Gorgeous Nothings series: even that which has been washed up or forgotten tells a story.
The exhibition coincides with the unveiling of Finch’s commission at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago this summer, a wall of colored tiles that sharpens the eye to the contrasting colors.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1962, Finch studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, Hamilton College, and Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Since the early 1990s, his work has been exhibited internationally, and he now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Throughout his career, Finch has become known for using light and color as an entry point into emotional experience, driven by what he calls “the impossible desire to see oneself seeing.”
Balboa of House and Garden invites visitors into Finch’s inner world and, in doing so, reveals how Dickinson’s creative practice continues to shape the way he sees—and encourages us to see—the significance of everyday objects. The exhibition is currently on view through August 22, 2026, at Lisson in Los Angeles.
In his new exhibition, Balboa of House and Garden at Lisson in Los Angeles, artist Spencer Finch finds beauty in the ordinary objects of daily life.
Spencer Finch, “Gorgeous Nothing 14,” 2026. Archival inkjet print, colored pencil and collage on paper, 23.5 × 17.1 cm 9¼ × 6¾ in. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Spencer Finch, “Gorgeous Nothing 39,” Our lives are Swiss, 2026. Archival inkjet print, watercolor and pencil on paper. 13.5 x 24.1 cm 5 ⅜ x 9 ½ in. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
At the center of Balboa of House and Garden is Finch’s Gorgeous Nothings series, which takes inspiration from Emily Dickinson’s well-known habit of writing poems on envelopes and grocery lists, using the scraps of daily life to create wonder and beauty that has lasted for more than 100 years.
Spencer Finch, “Gorgeous Nothing 8,” 2026. Archival inkjet print, watercolor and pencil on paper. 25.4 × 20.3 cm 10 × 8 in. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Spencer Finch, “Gorgeous Nothing 9,” 2026. Archival inkjet print, watercolor, gloss medium and pencil on paper 20.3 × 32.4 cm 8 × 12¾ in. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Spencer Finch, “Gorgeous Nothing 53,” Trying to remember the color of a bougainvillea (7 attempts), 2026. Archival inkjet print, pastel and postage stamp on paper 23.5 x 25.4 cm 9 ¼ x 10 in. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Spencer Finch, “Gorgeous Nothing 48,” Laundry in sunlight, 2026. Archival inkjet print, gloss medium and watercolor on paper 17.1 x 24.8 cm 6 ¾ x 9 ¾ in. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
The exhibition coincides with the unveiling of Finch’s commission at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago this summer, a wall of colored tiles that sharpens the eye to the contrasting colors.
Memory Landscape (Nairobi, Chicago, Honolulu, Jakarta) by Spencer Finch in the lower lobby of The Obama Presidential Center (OPC) in Chicago, IL on May 19, 2026. (The Obama Foundation).
The pieces are installed along the gallery’s white walls, highlighting their small size against the vastness of the room and further emphasizing that invitation to look more closely.
Installation view of “Spencer Finch: Balboa of House and Garden,” Lisson Los Angeles, June 26 – August 22, 2026. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Installation view of “Spencer Finch: Balboa of House and Garden,” Lisson Los Angeles, June 26 – August 22, 2026. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Installed in the ceiling is Finch’s site-specific skylight, which uses colored filters to change the light in the room, giving it the cooler appearance of Emily Dickinson’s surroundings in Amherst, Massachusetts, and casting the works in her shadow.
Installation view of “Spencer Finch: Balboa of House and Garden,” Lisson Los Angeles, June 26 – August 22, 2026. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Installation view of “Spencer Finch: Balboa of House and Garden,” Lisson Los Angeles, June 26 – August 22, 2026. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Outside the gallery is Finch’s Wreck (Raft of the Medusa) (2026), a sculpture that repurposes a dumpster, reimagining Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa.
Installation view of “Spencer Finch: Balboa of House and Garden,” Lisson Los Angeles, June 26 – August 22, 2026. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Installation view of “Spencer Finch: Balboa of House and Garden,” Lisson Los Angeles, June 26 – August 22, 2026. (Photo: © Spencer Finch; Courtesy of Lisson Gallery)
Exhibition Information:
Spencer Finch
Balboa of House and Garden
June 26, 2026–August 22, 2026
Lisson Gallery
1037 N. Sycamore Avenue
Los Angeles, CA, 90038
Spencer Finch: Website
Lisson Gallery: Website | Instagram | Facebook
My Modern Met granted permission to feature photos by Lisson Gallery.
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