VENICE, Calif. — Recurrence, a solo exhibition by Los Angeles–based architect and artist Leo Marmol, will open to the public Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at Chuck Arnoldi’s Venice studio. Presented by Art Seen, the exhibition will remain on view through March 1, 2026, marking a return to the neighborhood where Marmol first lived and worked after relocating to Los Angeles in the 1980s.
After Acceptance, 2025, oil and cold wax on board, 48 x 48”
The exhibition brings together oil-and-cold-wax paintings that reflect Marmol’s long engagement with the shifting light and sand of the California landscape, alongside a new body of work centered on cyclical gesture. At the core of Recurrence is repetition as an act of sustained attention and return, a principle that has informed Marmol’s practice for decades. In the new series, a circle anchors each composition, at times barely emerging from fields of restrained color and at others asserting itself with quiet force. The works maintain a tactile stillness as the palette becomes more inward and disciplined, tracing echoes from planetary motion and mathematical constants to the rhythms of daily life.
Marmol’s landscape paintings distill atmospheric planes of color drawn from the environment’s mercurial qualities, with cold wax textures evoking sand, erosion and passage. In contrast, the circle paintings originate from the body, gathering motion into measured, insistent form. Together, the two series operate as parallel expressions of recurrence, with layered oil and wax surfaces holding traces of intention and chance. The exhibition also reflects a renewed artistic dialogue between Marmol and Arnoldi, a relationship deepened during the pandemic through their collaboration on the 2020 NADA Miami Lone Stars exhibition.
“I stand in one place. My body is the center; my arm sweeps the radius,” Marmol said. “Repeated over time, the gesture becomes a ritual.” Drawing from traditions ranging from ancient architectural oculi and Zen ensō to modern and contemporary abstraction, Recurrence reaches toward the sublime while retaining the visible imprint of the human hand. The exhibition frames repetition not as resolution, but as meaning itself, found in the willingness to begin again.
The public is invited to attend the opening reception and meet the artist.
Opening Reception:
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026 | 6–8 p.m.
Chuck Arnoldi’s Venice Studio
721 Hampton Drive
Venice, CA 90291
Exhibition Dates:
Feb. 5–March 1, 2026
Viewings by appointment, email sea@laartseen.com
About Leo Marmol
Leo Marmol is a Los Angeles–based artist and architect and a founding partner of Marmol Radziner. A Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and an inductee of the Interior Design Hall of Fame, Marmol holds a degree in philosophy, which informs the conceptual rigor of his visual practice. Working primarily with oil paint and cold wax on canvas or wood panel, his paintings explore color, memory and personal history through abstraction. His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Los Angeles, Palm Springs and Cambria, and has been featured in publications including Design Milk, Luxe and Wallpaper magazine’s USA 400: The People Shaping Creative America.
Instagram: @leonardo_e_marmol
About Art Seen
Recurrence is curated by Art Seen, a Los Angeles–based art advisory founded in 1993 by Leonardo Ledesma. With roots in architecture, Art Seen’s curatorial approach emphasizes spatial awareness, materiality and the dialogue between art and the built environment.
