Ysasi Gallery and ESPASSO are pleased to present Keep This Between Us, a solo exhibition by Brazilian artist Zé Tepedino, opening during the week of Frieze Los Angeles. The exhibition is presented across two locations: Ysasi Gallery in West Adams and EPASSO’s West Coast gallery, and is conceived as a collaborative project centered on cultural exchange and community.

The exhibition title, Keep This Between Us, emerged during early conversations surrounding the collaboration. The phrase reflects ideas of trust, proximity, and connection formed through serendipitous encounters and long-standing relationships, which underpin both the exhibition and the partnership between the participating galleries.

This spirit of exchange extends to the collaboration with ESPASSO, a long-established platform for Brazilian design in the United States that has played a significant role in fostering dialogue between Brazil and the American market.

ESPASSO’s participation provides a natural context for the presentation of Tepedino’s work, bringing together art, design, and community within a shared cultural framework. Coinciding with Carnival in Brazil, the exhibition features a film captured by Tepedino during Carnival 2025 in Rio de Janeiro, accompanied by the layered sounds of the city’s streets. The work translates the rhythm and movement of Carnival into an immersive installation, emphasizing collective experience and spatial engagement.

At Ysasi Gallery, the exhibition unfolds as an installation-driven environment. The gallery’s windows are covered with a collage of found papers, obscuring the interior and creating a sense of anticipation. Inside, the space opens into a setting intended to encourage gathering and exchange.

The exhibition presents a combination of works transported from Tepedino’s studio in Brazil alongside site-specific works produced in Los Angeles. Together, these elements form a cohesive body of work shaped by movement between places, materials, and communities.

Zé Tepedino (b. Rio de Janeiro, 1990) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro. His multidisciplinary practice spans film, installation, photography, and material experimentation, and is grounded in close observation of everyday environments. Through simple gestures and processes, his work reconfigures familiar materials and situations, proposing new ways of seeing and inhabiting space.

An early preview of Keep This Between Us will take place on February 26th at ESPASSO. Opening on February 28 at Ysasi Gallery, the exhibition will remain on view for two months. Timed with Frieze Los Angeles, the exhibition offers a considered and immersive counterpoint to the fair’s broader context.