The Pop-Up Project | Los Angeles 2026

Lisa Rees exhibiting with The Pop-Up Project at Voltage of Hope, Los Angeles 2026

A Sydney Artist on an International Stage

In September 2026, Sydney-based mixed-media artist Lisa Rees will present three original works as part of Voltage of Hope, an international contemporary art exhibition presented by The Pop-Up Project at Mica Studios in the Los Angeles Arts District.

Follow the Journey to Los Angeles

Lisa will be documenting the final preparation of the exhibition works, their journey from Sydney to Los Angeles, installation, exhibition events and behind-the-scenes moments in the lead-up to opening night.

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Interior of Mica Studios in the Los Angeles Arts District

Mica Studios, Los Angeles | Host venue for The Pop-Up Project's Voltage of Hope exhibition.

Exhibition Details

Event: Voltage of Hope

Presented by: The Pop-Up Project

Venue: Mica Studios

Location: 356 S Mission Road, Los Angeles, California

Exhibition: 19–24 September 2026

Opening Night: Saturday 19 September, 5 PM

Opening Night Programme: Live Jazz · Drinks

Voltage of Hope opening night at Mica Studios Los Angeles, September 19 2026, featuring live jazz

Voltage of Hope Opening Night | Saturday 19 September 2026, 5 PM | Mica Studios, Los Angeles.

Bringing together international emerging artists for six days in the heart of Los Angeles, Voltage of Hope explores ideas of transformation, possibility and human connection — themes that resonate strongly with Lisa's evolving artistic practice.

Situated within the Los Angeles Arts District, the exhibition brings contemporary art into a historic industrial setting where architecture, movement, light and encounter become part of the experience.

Gold, Materiality and the Human Story

There is an unmistakable sense of elegance throughout Lisa Rees' work, but her practice is increasingly concerned with what sits beneath the surface.

Fashion, form and feminine expression have long informed her visual language. As her practice evolves, recognisable figures increasingly move between presence and abstraction, allowing material, gesture and atmosphere to carry more of the emotional weight of the work.

Raised in a Greek family where music, performance and self-expression were part of everyday life, Lisa developed an early appreciation for the way visual presentation can communicate emotion, confidence and individuality. That influence continues to shape her work today.

Rather than treating beauty as a superficial subject, Lisa approaches it as a language capable of expressing strength, vulnerability, transformation and human complexity.

Gold as Material and Metaphor

Gold leaf has become one of the recurring materials within Lisa's practice. Traditionally associated with permanence, reverence and value, it functions in her work as both a physical material and an expressive device.

It catches light, changes with its environment and reveals different qualities from different viewpoints. Within the newer works, gold moves beyond ornament to become part of the gesture itself — interrupting, tracing and sometimes dissolving into the surrounding composition.

Texture, Movement and Surface

Texture plays an equally important role.

Working with acrylic, mixed media, textural mediums and dimensional surfaces, Lisa creates artworks whose physical qualities extend beyond the painted image.

These tactile qualities create a changing relationship with the work. Surface becomes more apparent as light moves across it, while reflective passages shift depending on the viewer's position.

This growing emphasis on materiality is particularly evident in the works created for Los Angeles, where the figure becomes increasingly intertwined with surrounding gesture, abstraction and atmosphere.

While visually distinctive, the work remains grounded in human experience. Themes of transformation, resilience, femininity, surrender and personal change continue to move through Lisa's practice.

It is this combination of contemporary figurative language and universal emotional themes that makes the work particularly relevant within Voltage of Hope.

Works Selected for Los Angeles

Three original works by Lisa Rees have been selected for presentation at Voltage of Hope in Los Angeles: The Recline, The River Within and Release.

The three works mark an evolution in Lisa's contemporary figurative practice, moving further into abstraction, atmospheric dissolution and sculptural surface.

Across the collection, the figure shifts between presence and disappearance, while 23K gold leaf moves beyond ornament to become part of the gesture, movement and emotional tension of each composition.

Together, the works explore states of stillness, surrender and transformation through distinct but connected visual languages.

The Recline

The Recline by Lisa Rees, 2026, original contemporary figurative painting in acrylic, mixed media and 23K gold leaf on canvas

150 × 60 cm
Acrylic, mixed media and 23K gold leaf on canvas
Original artwork

A reclining female form emerges through fragmented, sculptural passages of charcoal, stone, cream and reflective gold.

The Recline sits at the intersection of Lisa Rees' established figurative language and her increasing movement toward abstraction, allowing texture, fragmented form and reflective surface to carry as much expression as the figure itself.

The work holds a quieter, sculptural stillness within the collection, balancing recognisable form with fractured passages of texture and gold.

Selected for Voltage of Hope at Mica Studios, Los Angeles.

View The Recline

The River Within

The River Within by Lisa Rees, 2026, original abstract figurative painting in acrylic, mixed media and 23K gold leaf on canvas

91 × 122 cm
Acrylic, mixed media and 23K gold leaf on canvas
Original artwork

Against an expansive black field, a pale figure appears to flow between presence and dissolution. Sweeping marks and passages of gold move through the composition like an internal current, creating tension between physical stillness and something less visible in motion beneath it.

The River Within explores the contrast between outward stillness and the currents moving beneath the surface. The figure emerges from, and begins to dissolve into, the surrounding atmosphere, while the central passage of 23K gold leaf creates a luminous visual current that shifts as the work catches the light.

Selected for Voltage of Hope at Mica Studios, Los Angeles.

View The River Within

Release

Release by Lisa Rees, 2026, original abstract figurative painting in acrylic, mixed media and 23K gold leaf on canvas

91 × 122 cm
Acrylic, mixed media and 23K gold leaf on canvas
Original artwork

Release occupies a suspended moment between holding on and letting go. The upward-facing figure emerges through layered passages of warm neutral, charcoal and earth tones, while sections of the body begin to dissolve into the surrounding field.

Fragments of 23K gold leaf interrupt the surface at unexpected points, creating moments of illumination against quieter painted passages. The figure appears simultaneously present and disappearing, holding the composition within a state of transformation rather than resolution.

Of the three Los Angeles works, Release moves furthest into abstraction. It reflects Lisa Rees' growing interest in allowing the figure to become less descriptive and more psychological, using fragmentation, material and atmosphere to explore transformation.

Selected for Voltage of Hope at Mica Studios, Los Angeles.

View Release

Why This Moment Matters

Voltage of Hope marks an important point in the development of Lisa Rees' practice, presenting a new body of work to an international audience in Los Angeles.

The Recline, The River Within and Release bring together the figurative foundations of her earlier practice with a more abstract, atmospheric and material-led approach.

Seen together, the works reveal a continuing conversation through the figure, movement, atmosphere and the recurring presence of 23K gold leaf. Each approaches that conversation differently: from the sculptural stillness of The Recline, through the internal movement of The River Within, to the suspended transformation of Release.

Presented within the Los Angeles Arts District alongside an international group of emerging contemporary artists, the exhibition creates an opportunity for this evolving body of work to enter new conversations with collectors, curators, creatives and audiences beyond Australia.

Press and Recognition

Explore other exhibitions, publications and media features that have contributed to Lisa Rees' growing professional profile.

Related Recognition