I visited Greg Ito’s Los Angeles studio in February, right before an exciting week for the artist. He was preparing to unveil a monumental outdoor sculpture at Frieze Los Angeles, and his solo exhibition at the Long Beach Museum of Art was about to come to a close. Ito was also working on projects beyond Southern California (where he was born and raised)—most notably, a major public commission for Brooklyn.

As befits the 38-year-old artist’s ambition, his studio is not just one room but an entire two-story industrial building, replete with a small apartment upstairs appointed with examples from his art collection—some purchased and some acquired through trades with artist friends. Signs of his wife, Karen Galloway, who founded and runs the nearby Sow & Tailor gallery, and their daughter, Spring, are everywhere—a stylish pair of Galloway’s boots, perhaps cast off after a gallery opening; toys and children’s drawings.