Presented by nous-ance in collaboration with the Torrance Art Museum for the TRYST Art Fair

An itch. A flicker. A sting.

Irritant is a collection of disruptions—minor and major—surfacing as gesture, form, and residue. This exhibition explores irritation not as a mere nuisance, but as a generative force: an affective spark, a psychological thread, a rupture in the calm. The works agitate, unsettle, and itch beneath the skin. Some whisper discomfort; others press with deliberate friction. Here, irritation is a medium. A material. A state of being. It is the chemical burn of remembering, the slow abrasion of displacement, the uncanny sense that something isn’t quite right. It is what makes us shift in our seats, look again, or speak out. Irritant offers no soothing balm—it lingers, festers, pulses—refusing resolution in favor of presence.

What if being bothered is the beginning of becoming?

What if discomfort is the first language of change?