Not Shockbox art gallery - Hermosa Beach
upcoming
Size Doesn't Matter
May 1-10, 2026
Hours: Daily 10-5 and by appointment
Big Ideas. Tiny scale.
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.
This show includes work that whispers… and then bites. Work that looks manageable—until it isn’t. Proof that impact has nothing to do with square footage.
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.
Artists: Adele French, Aimee Hertog, Amanda Santos, Andrew Miller, Andrew Mitchell, Beth Elliott, Chad Bridgewater, Christy Peterson, Ciara Froning, Claudia Berman, Connie Roldan, Daniel Kane, David Clark, Dooney Potter, Elizabeth Janss, Evan Crocker, Garrison Frost, Ian Shelly, India Schmidt, James Frost, James Thatcher, Janice Ann Bock, Janice Bock, Jen LaVita, Karl Hauser, Kate Pickle, Kathleen Fietz, Ken Bishop, Kevin Jacobs, Kevin Perrault, Kina Lee, Leslie Jacobs, Maria Gil Lucientes, Mary Zeran, Melody Ellis, Michael James, Michaela Lingelbach, Micheal Luke Russell, Mya Giuliani, Oana Gamlowski, Sam Homan, Shirley Day, Stephanie Henry, Steven Morrell, Tarik Castilho, Thalo Halo, Thea Phillips, Tina Ybarra, Tom McIntire, Xiao Xiao Wu
upcoming *new*
MiniBoxx
May 2-10, 2026
Hours: ANYTIME, can be seen from the front window
Debut of the Not Shockboxx MiniBoxx
The Size Doesn't Matter exhibition also includes the launch of MiniBoxx which will be installed each show at a new business location in the South Bay.
The first exhibition will be at curious... in Hermosa Beach on Pier Avenue. It will be on display in the window. Drop by to see it and feel the power of the tiny.
Small art deserves big adventures.
on Artsy
Up in Smoke
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.net and may include mature themes and is intended for viewers 18+.
FEATURED ARTISTS:
Adam Stanzak, Adèle French, Alison McMahon, Amy Dillon, Archie Jones, Barry Jordan, Charise Mirabal, Clare Schmehl, Claudia Berman, Dunny Potter, Emily Tanaka, Fei Alexander, James Frost, Jason Thompso, Julie Beloussow, Julie Lipa, Karl Hauser, Kate Pickle, Kymm Swank, Liz schmidt, Lynette Toma , Matthew Plaza, Micha Riss, Michael D Usher, Scott Berrum, Sumin Joo, Wendy Nyx
on Artsy
Protest—The Art of Activism
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.
Artists: Adam Mazy, Adèle French, Alison McMahon, Annika Simmons, Armelle Vervialle Ngo, Barig Nalbantian, Barry Jordan, Carol Blum, Caroline Avent, Claudia Berman, Corinne Humphrey, D Hobson, Dar San Agustin, David Mack, David Schwittek, Debbie Novak, Devon Sharon, e . y . reilly, Emily Tanaka, Eryn Lewis, Eva Benedikt, Francis Ybanez, Francziska Steagall, Gin Lin, Gregory young, James Frost, James Thatcher, Janet Day, Jeanne May, Jen Dohner, Jennifer Myhre, Jennifer Wilkens, Jeremy Woodard, Jesse Aldana, Jessica Teckemeyer, Joanna Biondolillo, John Fleissner, Joma Geneciran, Judy Polstra, Karen Joy, Kathleen Fietz, Keith Kurlander, Kerry Sclafani, Kevin Perrault, Kim Stuart, Kimberlee Koym-Murteira, Kina Lee, Matthew Plaza, Meghan Quinn, Michael Usher, Michelle Victoria, Nick Shattuck, Peter Ashlock, Peter Sandback, Remedios Rapoport, Rhonda Urdang, Ron Romain, Sadie Duthu-Glover, Sarah Sipling, Sean Colella, Silvana D'Mikos, Stephanie Albion, Therese Verner, Tracy Murphy, Vince Quevedo, Wendy Nyx
on Artsy
Red Light District
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
on Artsy
She Made This
An intimate show exclusively for the founding women of Not Shockboxx's Backboxx Artist Society to continue championing women's voices beyond Women's History Month.
Featuring work by: Sylvana Lankshear, Priscilla, Adele French, Sam Homan, Michele Allen Fulkerson
open call
Art is Keeping us Alive
Deadline to Apply: May 1, 2026
Opens: May 21, 2026
Closes: May 30, 2026
Independent art spaces don’t survive on their own.
They survive because artists, collectors, and community decide they matter.
Not Shockboxx is an experiment—a queer-owned, artist-forward gallery built to give bold, strange, thoughtful work a place to live outside the usual systems. A place where artists can take risks, show work that doesn’t fit neatly into commercial boxes, and build real relationships with collectors and each other.
And like many independent art spaces, staying afloat isn’t always easy.
So we’re asking the artists we love, and the artists who believe spaces like this should exist, to help us keep going.
This exhibition invites artists to donate artwork to support the future of Not Shockboxx. All participating works will become part of the gallery’s inventory and may continue to be sold by the gallery after the exhibition through Artsy and other channels, helping sustain the gallery long-term.
Think of it as artists supporting a weird little art space that matters.
All mediums are welcome. Existing work is welcome. Work that collectors can fall in love with and take home is especially welcome.
If Not Shockboxx has meant something to you—or if you believe independent art spaces like this deserve to exist—we would be honored to include your work.
open call
The Gay Agenda (Artsy Exhibition)
Deadline to Apply: May 1, 2026
Opens: June 1, 2026
Closes: July 31, 2026
The Gay Agenda is a juried online, Artsy exhibition featuring work by queer artists across disciplines, perspectives, and practices.
This is not a show about what “queer art” is supposed to look like. It’s a show about who is making the work.
We are interested in the full range of creative expression from queer artists, without expectation or limitation. The work does not need to center identity, politics, or queerness as subject matter. It can, but it doesn’t have to. What matters is the voice behind it.
Bring us your best work. The piece you’re proud of. The one that feels like you.
All mediums are welcome, including painting, photography, sculpture, digital work, textile, mixed media, and beyond. This is a fully digital exhibition presented on Artsy, so no shipping is required to participate. If a work sells, shipping will be coordinated directly between the artist and collector.
This is a juried exhibition.
The exhibition will be live on Artsy for eight weeks.
open call
Wild, Weird & Wonderful (Artsy Exhibition)
Deadline to Apply: June 1, 2026
Opens: July 1, 2026
Closes: August 31, 2026
Not Shockboxx invites artists from everywhere to submit work for Wild, Weird, and Wonderful, a fully online exhibition celebrating the bold, the unexpected, and the unapologetically original.
This is a space for work that does not quite fit anywhere else. The pieces that are too strange, too playful, too loud, too emotional, too layered, or too hard to explain. The work that makes people pause, laugh, question, or feel something they did not expect.
We are not looking for safe.
We are not looking for polished perfection.
We are looking for work that has a pulse.
All mediums are welcome including painting, photography, sculpture, prints, textile, mixed media, video, and beyond. If it translates visually and holds its own in a digital space, we want to see it.
This is a juried exhibition, and all selected works will be presented exclusively on Artsy.net as part of Not Shockboxx’s digital programming. The exhibition will be live for six weeks.
open call
Knot Sorry
Deadline to Apply: July 1, 2026
Opens: Aug 8, 2026
Closes: Aug 29, 2026
There’s something subversive about softness.
Knot Sorry pulls fiber art out of the polite, domestic corner and into the spotlight where it belongs — bold, labor-intensive, intimate, and impossible to ignore. This exhibition celebrates work made by hand, by time, by tension. Quilts that carry stories. Garments that feel like armor or confession. Threads that bind, unravel, and reassemble meaning.
We’re interested in fiber as both material and message. The slow process. The repetitive act. The history stitched into every surface. And the ways artists are pushing these traditions into something sharper, stranger, more personal.
Bring us the pieces that blur the line between craft and fine art. The ones that feel obsessive. Tender. Unapologetic. Work that holds weight — physically or emotionally — whether it’s stitched, knotted, woven, sewn, or layered into mixed media.
This is about care and control. About labor you can see. About softness that doesn’t ask permission.
No apologies. No minimizing.
Knot Sorry.
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.