Los Angeles, CA — CMAY Gallery is pleased to announce The Story So Far…, the first solo exhibition at the gallery by longtime Los Angeles artist Greg Rose. Rose has lived and worked in Los Angeles since graduating from Claremont Graduate University, where he studied under the mentorship of Roland Reiss and Karl Benjamin—two iconic figures of the Los Angeles art scene.

Since that time, Rose has exhibited extensively in both Los Angeles and San Francisco. This exhibition also marks a reunion with CMAY Gallery curator Carl Berg, who first represented Rose’s work more than two decades ago. Their renewed collaboration brings Rose’s vision full circle, offering audiences an expansive view of his artistic evolution. 

In The Story So Far…, Rose continues his sustained investigation into the flora of the San Gabriel Mountains—rugged landscapes that sit at the threshold of metropolitan Los Angeles. For the past 15 years, he has built an ongoing body of work inspired by trees encountered on his regular hikes. Each tree, shaped by wind, drought, fire, and time, carries the visible marks of survival in extreme conditions. Together, these tree portraits suggest a living community—diverse, resilient, and evocative of familial and social structures.

His process often begins with what he describes as a “head shot,” a meticulous gouache rendering of a single tree. These portraits become the foundation for larger compositions, where groups of trees gather together in layered, narrative arrangements. Within these works, the tensions, affinities, and bonds between the trees echo those of human relationships—families, friends, and communities. Rose’s evocative titles further extend this metaphor, encouraging viewers to reflect on whether these subjects are bound by fate or exercising a kind of self determination.

Rose’s most recent work turns to the aftermath of devastating wildfires in the Angeles National Forest, where more than 300,000 acres have burned in the past decade and a half, largely due to human activity. His depictions of fire-scorched trees are stark and haunting, bearing witness to both ecological fragility and resilience. They serve not only as powerful visual subjects but also as urgent reminders of the interdependence between human life and the natural world.

As Rose reminds us, nature is an inexhaustible part of our existence. The fate of forests and humanity are inseparably entwined: if we cannot learn to coexist with the natural world, we risk sharing in its destruction. The Story So Far…invites us to reflect not only on the endurance of trees, but also on our own place within the fragile continuum of life.