A Tale of Two Cities is a collaborative exhibition between Sparks Gallery in San Diego and bG Gallery in Santa Monica: two art galleries connected by the same coastline, and shaped individually by their respective cities’ rhythms, energies, and audiences. Through this collaborative partnership exhibit, Southern California artists and internationally collected artists represented by each gallery will be on view in each other’s gallery for a limited showing. 

On view from January 7th– February 7th in both galleries, the works are curated toward the partner gallery’s audience, and each celebrates the spirit of dialogue, play, and shared imagination that can flourish when two art worlds meet.

For this gallery swap, Sparks Gallery brings to bG Gallery a vibrant selection of works by Alexander Arshansky, Kathleen Kane-Murrell, and Ron Carlson: three artists whose practices embrace bold color, pop-influenced  social commentary, and meditations about the world around them. Their pieces pulse with dynamic linework, layered symbolism, and speak to the collecting style of bG Gallery’s diverse, ambitious, and maverick collectors. 

Meditative and expressive works by bG Gallery artists coming to Sparks Gallery include but not limited to: Jayne Walther, Michelle Kingdom, Gay Summer Rick, Gregory Horndeski, Melissa Meier, Jonathan Ryan Harvey, and Wrona Gall. These pieces speak to San Diego’s casual, coastal, and grounded art appreciators’ collecting style. 

Reception:  

bG Gallery Reception (showing Sparks artists) January 10th, 2026 4pm-7pm

2525 Michigan Ave., Suite A2, Santa Monica, CA 90404
Located within Bergamot Station Arts Center, bG Gallery will host a curated exhibition from Sparks Gallery’s roster. The show will introduce Los Angeles audiences to a range of San Diego–rooted contemporary work — from surreal and figurative compositions to innovative mixed-media pieces reflective of the Gaslamp Quarter’s evolving creative landscape.

Sparks Gallery Reception (showing bG artists) January 25th, 2026 5pm -8pm

530 Sixth Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101
Sparks Gallery, based in San Diego’s historic Sterling Hardware Building, will showcase a selection of bG Gallery artists known for expressive-conceptual, outsider-influenced, and boundary-pushing contemporary work. San Diego visitors will experience a fresh cross-section of LA’s inventive artistic culture.