Not Shockbox art gallery - Hermosa Beach
opening Feb 28
Red Light District
Opens: Feb 28, 2026
Closes: Mar 14, 2026
Red Light District slips into the intimate, flirtatious, and undeniably human space where sexuality and art meet.
This exhibition embraces the full spectrum of erotic expression—from the beautiful, restrained nude that holds you still, to the raw, strange, or unfiltered work that makes you shift in your seat. Sensual, humorous, elegant, gritty, delicate, provocative—this is work that understands how to command attention without asking permission.
Red Light District centers desire, touch, tension, fantasy, power, queerness, vulnerability, and the electric space between bodies. The erotic here is not performative shock—it’s honesty. Awkward, beautiful, complicated, funny, haunting. The kind of work artists are often told to soften, censor, or hide.
All mediums are welcome, including painting, photography, sculpture, illustration, digital, textile, mixed media, video, and installation. If it pulses with heat or truth, it belongs here.
This exhibition is 18+.
We especially encourage work from queer artists, artists of color, and artists with different abilities. No one is excluded, but these voices receive juried preference.
Red Light District is an invitation to show the work you’ve been afraid to show elsewhere—and a reminder that sexuality, in all its forms, is inseparable from the human experience.
Artists: Jey Austen, Bowen Beaty, Mark Dierker, Adèle French, James Frost, Dan Greene, Joseph Grice, Jared Hadfield, Thalo Halo, Sam Homan, Adrian Huth, Michael James, Margo laurence, Alison McMahon Johnson, Matthew Plaza, Thomas Pomarico, Dooney Potter, Vince Quevedo, Kristi Quint, Alison Reid, e . y . reilly, Micha Riss, Peter Sandback, Rob Syles, Michael Tole, Armelle Vervialle Ngo, Mackenzie Washington, Kathryn Winston, Leigh Witherell, Jeremy Woodard
open call
Protest—The Art of Activism
APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MARCH 5
Opens: March 21, 2026
Closes: April 4, 2026
Revolution Is Not a Spectator Sport
Protest has always been a catalyst for artistic expression. From public dissent to personal resistance, protest art gives voice to injustice, demands change, and documents moments of social reckoning.
Protest: The Art of Activism is a group exhibition centered on the urgent need—not just the desire—to resist systems, policies, and power structures that cause harm. This show exists in direct response to what is happening in America and other places around the world, as people take to the streets to defend bodily autonomy, human rights, immigrant lives, queer and trans existence, racial justice, and collective freedom.
We are seeking bold, confrontational, poetic, angry, hopeful, and uncompromising work that engages with protest as both art object and lived action. Protest art is unique because it does not stop at the wall—it moves through bodies, marches, streets, and history. Some works may live as physical objects. Others may only exist because they were carried, chanted, worn, or witnessed.
This exhibition explicitly aligns itself with progressive values and resistance to the current U.S. administration and its policies. This is not a politically neutral show. MAGA need not apply.
What We’re Looking For
We welcome a wide range of interpretations and formats, including but not limited to:
- Original protest signs and banners
Hand-painted, printed, stitched, wheat-pasted, cardboard, fabric—raw is welcome. These may be displayed on walls or suspended from the ceiling. - Protest signs intended for use
Artists and activists participating in the No Kings March on March 28 may submit signs that will be:
- Exhibited before the march
- Picked up and carried during the demonstration
- Returned afterward to be reinstalled for the remainder of the show
Wear, damage, and evidence of use are not flaws—they’re part of the work. - Works created specifically for protest
Pieces designed to be held, worn, distributed, or activated in public space. - Documentation of protest and resistance
Photography, video, or mixed media capturing past demonstrations, marches, actions, or moments of collective resistance. - Fine art with an activist lens
Painting, drawing, sculpture, fiber, installation, assemblage, or mixed media that confronts power, systems, and injustice. - Text-based work
Slogans, demands, manifestos, poetry, repetition, and language as confrontation. - Works not for sale
Art from personal or historical collections that exists solely to be seen, witnessed, and shared. - Prints and multiples
Affordable editions are strongly encouraged and may be sold separately from original works.
open call
Up in Smoke
Opens: April 11, 2026
Closes: April 25, 2026
Altered States, Open Minds
Throughout history, artists have sought expanded consciousness through ritual, meditation, trance, dream states, and yes, chemical catalysts. From the visionary mysticism of William Blake to the psychedelic explorations of Alex Grey, altered perception has shaped how we see, feel, and interpret reality.
Up in Smoke is a group exhibition exploring art created in, inspired by, or designed to enhance altered states of mind. This adults-only show welcomes the psychedelic, transcendental, euphoric, meditative, surreal, comedic, and mind-bending. We are interested in work that dissolves boundaries—between self and cosmos, body and spirit, logic and dream.
This exhibition is not about promoting substances. It is about perception. Expansion. Surrender. Even comedy! The thin veil between the visible and the unseen.
We invite artists to consider:
What does altered consciousness look like? How does it feel? Can a work of art shift a viewer’s state—slow them down, open them up, take them somewhere else?
This show will be shared on Artsy.com and may include mature themes and is intended for viewers 18+.
What We’re Looking For
We welcome a wide range of interpretations and formats, including but not limited to:
- Psychedelic & Visionary Art: Color-saturated, pattern-driven, fractal, cosmic, or hallucinatory imagery.
- Transcendental & Spiritual Work: Art exploring ego death, mysticism, chakras, sacred geometry, ritual, archetypes, or expanded awareness.
- Meditative & Repetitive Practices: Labor-intensive, trance-induced, or process-based work that reflects altered focus or flow states.
- Immersive Installations: Light, projection, sound, or sculptural environments that shift perception or create atmospheric experience.
- Surreal & Dream-Based Imagery: Works emerging from dreams, subconscious exploration, or non-linear narratives.
- Sensory-Enhancing Pieces: Art that may be experienced differently depending on the viewer’s state—visually layered, interactive, or perceptually playful.
- Comedic Entertainment: Work with hidden meanings, funny spins on the everyday, or tell stories from the past.
open call
Size Doesn't Matter
Opens: May 1, 2026
Closes: May 10, 2026
Big Ideas. Tiny scale.
Shockboxx Gallery invites artists to submit work for our upcoming Mini Art Show, an exhibition dedicated to artwork measuring no larger than 12” x 12”.
Yes. Twelve inches. We measured.
Small does not mean polite. Small does not mean precious.
This is a celebration of concentrated chaos, distilled brilliance, and ideas that punch above their weight.
We’re looking for work that whispers… and then bites.
Work that looks manageable — until it isn’t.
Prove that impact has nothing to do with square footage.
THE CONCEPT
Limitation can be liberating. Think of this as creative compression.
An 12” x 12” boundary is not a limitation, it’s a dare.
Edit harder. Cut deeper. Say it sharper.
No sprawling canvases to hide in. No excess. No filler. Just intention.
We want artists to squeeze narrative, tension, humor, protest, seduction, absurdity, beauty, or menace into a space small enough to hold in your hands. Work that holds power disproportionate to its size.
Intimate? Good.
Unsettling? Better.
Tiny pieces.
Unreasonable presence.
WHY SMALL?
Because scale is psychological.
Because intimacy can be confrontational.
Because constraint sharpens teeth.
Because sometimes the smallest objects cause the most disruption.
Create something that fits within 8 inches —
and refuses to stay there.
SPECIAL FEATURE
Debut of the Not Shockboxx MiniBoxx
This exhibition will introduce the Not Shockboxx MiniBoxx, our new mobile micro-gallery with a roaming habit.
Small art deserves big adventures.
The MiniBoxx will travel throughout our local community, popping up in businesses and unexpected spaces, inserting contemporary art where people least expect it (and perhaps most need it).
Select works from this exhibition will be chosen to go on tour.
Compact. Portable. Slightly dangerous. This is art that fits anywhere — and refuses to be ignored.
If your piece behaves badly in public, we might just take it with us.
past exhibits
About
Not Shockboxx Gallery is exactly what it sounds like—not Shockboxx—but we wouldn’t be here without it. The legendary Shockboxx gallery built a reputation for fearless, unconventional, and unapologetically meaningful art, and we’re proud to preserve that legacy while forging our own path. We’re the next generation of gallery owners—different voices, different ideas, but the same deep respect for the artists and community that made Shockboxx unforgettable. We’ll always be grateful to the creators who came before us, but we’re also here to stir our own pot, make our own beautiful mess, and see where the tide of strange and wonderful takes us.
Gallery owner Jessica Accamando with Gallery Manager Carin Ohara.