Exhibit and Workshop for Reinterpreting Rod: Artists Create New Works Inspired by Rod Briggs’ Paintings

Long Beach Creative Group invites the community to experience Reinterpreting Rod: Artists Create New Works Inspired by Rod Briggs’s Paintings, a group exhibit featuring 20 Long Beach-area artists who have created original works inspired by the paintings of the acclaimed Long Beach artist. The exhibit will be on view at the Rod Briggs Gallery, 2221 E Broadway in Long Beach, from Saturday, Aug. 15 to Saturday, Sept. 19, 2026, with an opening reception on Saturday, Aug. 15, from 6pm to 9pm.
Conceived and curated by artist Cory Bilicko, the exhibit features 10 original paintings by Briggs alongside two contemporary reinterpretations of each work. The result is a visual conversation between generations of artists, offering viewers a rare opportunity to see how different creators respond to the same source material.
Briggs (1927–2017) was a prolific Long Beach artist whose career spanned decades and multiple artistic styles.
As an extension of the exhibit, two artists from the show (David Early and Aria Bradfield) will lead a free, family-friendly art workshop on Sunday, Aug. 23, from 1pm to 2:30pm. Inspired by the show’s central theme, participants will work with a partner through two guided sessions. During the first session, attendees will create original self-portraits. During the second, they will reinterpret their partner’s self-portrait using a different medium. Participants will leave with two original artworks.