Echoes of the Self Resonates at Durden and Ray

Posted on by Diversions LA

Echoes of the Self Resonates at Durden and Ray – Genie Davis

Echoes of the Self: Contemporary Explorations in Self-Representation is an exciting, even revolutionary exhibition currently on tap at Durden and Ray. Curated by Valerie Wilcox and Jenny Hager, who each have lovely pieces in the show, the full artist roster also includes
Nina Alvarez, Nicole T. Belle, Rory Devine, Ayin Es, Mark Steven Greenfield, Nichol Marsch, Randi Matushevitz, Dakota Noot, Mei Xian Qiu, Vojislav Radovanović, Jennifer Strings, Chidi Ukwuoma, and Eden Yono.

Working in wide range of mediums from stunning stand-up paper dolls to wildly creative mixed media video, paintings, drawings,  and sculpture, the artists present an array of talent as vastly diverse as their visions of self.

Curators Wilcox and Hager describe the show as representing “contemporary human experience through modes of self-representation and the intersection of personal narratives.” As important and weighty as that description may be, and as potent as the issues the show addresses are, from mental health to identity and gender politics, don’t be fooled. The show is also pure fun, inventive, and beautiful art, and a necessary and sharp commentary on our personal lives and the world in which we live.

Roughly based on the conceptions of self-portraiture, the exhibition swells beyond that, creating the kind of narrative that engages the senses and feelings of viewers, inviting us into the hearts and minds of others as well as encouraging us to examine our own.

There are also nods to the significance of digital technology in our lives, and how it both melds and divides us, and shapes our own perceptions. We may be looking at a world, and an inner self, that is shaped by social and digital interactions – frankly, such as this one.

But this is an exhibition you truly must take in live: there are so many moving parts, both emotionally and literally, from the fascinating video work presented within a 60s era television cabinet to the motion blurred twirl of a hanging sculpture, these works reach out to the viewer, begging an immediate sense of reaction and illuminating the soul and spirit of each depicted identity.

It would be hard to ignore the absolute standout that is Jennifer Strings’ “The Doll Chronicles-Welcome to the Doll Realm,” a mixed-media stop-motion and animation 12-minutes video featuring a variety of ball joined dolls created by artists Elizaveta Fastovets/ Holy.a.Nora; Dolls/ Eli Effenberger, Marmite Sue/ Doll Menagerie with mohair doll wigs by Anna Zolotuhina. Such a wild, imaginative, deeply involving ride this work is. Shaun Sisco provided Strings’ retro cabinet and television.

On the shelf below the television cabinet, Strings has included props from the video work that give the viewer insight into the complex thoroughly alive project she has created. So, what does it all mean? For this viewer, it was about entering a realm in which we see the real as surreal yet recognizable, delightful yet incongruent, fascinatingly detailed and immediately familiar. In short, these are dolls, and they could be you.

Randi Matushevitz, “Psychedelic Journey 1” is a very different sort of video, a painting of the artist’s that morphs and changes from its interface with video, creating a highly mutable, strangely transcendent view of shifting self, and redolent with the sense that life is always shifting, even if it is imperceptible to the naked eye until the passage of time and thought reveals it.

Nina Alvarez’ video, “The Honesty Protocol,” is also riven by change, presenting shifts both subtle and exhilarating.

Dakota Noot’s “Children of the Corn-fed,” are wonderful, richly poignant stand-up “paper dolls” made from colored pencil, crayon, and marker drawings on paper and foam core. Reaching up to 66” in height, the work charms and reimagines self. We are where we came from, growing up with kernels of self-perception and wisdom, as well as distortions and fears (yes, pun intended). But we are more than that. We can change, grow, represent ourselves and the world we came from while reimagining it. These are as delightful as they look, an entire living diorama of perception.

Vojislav Radovanović’s gorgeous, delicate hanging sculpture, “Everyday Balancing Acts,” is delicate and ethereal, constructed from found gloves, wooden sticks, branches, expanding foam, bungee cords, metal hooks, and acrylic on wood. It is a painted mobile that evokes something spiritual, the balancing act we perform by simply existing in a complicated world, always shifting to meet the moment and the winds of change.

Co-curator Jenny Hager’s lustrous and enveloping “Embonpoints,” an acrylic on canvas, is aglow with color, line, and a dream-like sense of possibility; her curatorial partner, Valerie Wilcox, offers an incredibly rich, dimensional wall sculpture made from acrylic, foam board, and plaster.

The pale pink and soft teale blue of “It’s Good to be Seen” evokes gender identities and the hidden gaze. Who are we looking at? And who might we be if we looked within.  Wilcox notes that the piece is about invisibility, the effort to be seen, and the feeling of being unseen.

Conceptualizing her vision about self was a curatorial idea that Wilcox was long passionate about for a show. The result  is an exhibition that offers lustrous diversity and seamlessly “unseen” curation from the curatorial team.

Nichol Marsch’s “Self Portrait 29 (Broken),” is a different sort of wall sculpture constructed of stuffed nylon pantyhose, with thread, hair, wire, eyeshadow, and nail polish. This bisected body is a puzzle we have constructed for ourselves; the gaps between body parts may be interpreted as the soul, or what society has removed away from us.

Ayin Es’s oil on canvas, “Sucker” gives us a weeping human with blackened eyes. It is a dark night of the soul personified with grace; Mark Steven Greenfield’s pen and ink drawing is a complex, interwoven tapestry,  a “Selfie” indeed.

Each of six colored pencil drawings by Eden Yono, “Iniaon/Clone/Right of Femme” feel poignant,  entirely askew, yet alive.

Nicole Belle’s ink jet print “Untitled (with ball of yarn)” startles with its alien-invasion-like black ball of yarn emanating from the model’s nostrils; Jennifer Strings presents a piece quite different from her stop-motion animation, a ballpoint pen on Bristol self-portrait, also “Untitled;” while Rory Devine takes us into the comic realm with his untitled “Self-portrait as Towlie, ” with bloodshot eyes and wistful gaze.

Also impactful: Mei Xian Qiu, “Selfie Friends,” a photographic installation depicting many moods and locations; and Chidi Ukwuoma’s “Liminal Space,” is richly onyx colored Earthenware clay with ceramic glaze, a bold eclipse of a sculpture. That latter work is brilliantly different from each perspective in which it is viewed.

This is a provocative showcase that asks the viewer to enjoy, connect, and consider their own nature while experiencing these artists’ own.

The closing reception is from 5 to 7 p.m. next Saturday, November 22nd. Don’t miss exploring.

Durden and Ray is located at 1206 Maple Ave. in DTLA in the Bendix Building, Suite 832.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and by Valerie Wilcox

Enjoy Some Blooms in Winter Garden

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Winter Garden, opening December 6th in Hermosa Beach at Not Shockboxx Gallery, is an immersive group exhibition featuring multiple works in mixed media, oil and acrylic painting, lenticular, collage, neon, and sculpture by artists including Beth Elliott, Amy Thornberry, Nancy Curan, Nancy Kay Turner, Eileen Oda, Susan Ossman, Jeanne Dunn, Dani Dodge, Snezana Petrovic, Angelica Sotiriou, Heather Lowe, Linda Sue Price, Linda Stelling, Skye Amber Sweet, Debbie Giese, Frederika Broeder, Michael Batchelor, and Suhail Noor. The show is curated by myself.

The exhibition explores each artist’s own unique vision of a garden in winter – not a floral wonderland, but rather a seasonal exploration of a world where beauty and decay coexist. Some works bloom with the promise of spring; others speak to the raw stillness of winter, where the light feels rare enough that it’s up to us to light the darkness with our own resilience, celebrating what persists, what mutates, what refuses to stay hidden, and what serves to remind us that even in the coldest season, something unexpected is always growing and giving.

As Rumi said “And don’t think the garden loses its ecstasy in winter. It’s quiet, but the roots are down there riotous.” Because it’s the season of giving, of lighting our personal candles to shine through the longest nights, this Winter Garden includes some seasonal radiant pieces that could make for perfet holiday gifts.

Conceived as a group exhibition, the artwork grows together in a wide range of mediums, examining amid deceptive dormancy and hidden potential, the beautiful promise of new growth is in every wintery garden, and is a balm to the spirit during hectic holiday time. You may see the colors of spring flowers easily, but in winter, the color is most vibrant through the imagination of an artist. Join us to experience each artist’s own unique vision of what grows and blossoms even when unseen.

The exhibition opening is December 6th from 6-9 p.m. and the show will run through January 3rd, when a closing artist’s talk will be held 3-5 p.m.. On December 14th, there will be a curatorial walk through and modeling of unique bespoke clothing by Kate Kelton 4-6 p.m. Not Shockboxx is located at 636 Cypress in Hermosa Beach.

 

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis

 

An International Exhibition Pairs Work with Artists from Los Angeles and Belgrade

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An international exchange of art may or may not work as anything more than an interesting premise, or a way to open dialog between two disparate locations.  But with Translocal Conclave Amid the Market, an exhibition pairing Los Angeles-based Durden and Ray with Blok Gallery, located in Belgrade, Serbia, both artist-run spaces have hit the collaborative mark and then some.

The group exhibition was presented in Belgrade, and viscerally examines both the connections and disparities between the two art collectives. Each is an innovative gallery space that offers provocative, unique work reflecting on the nature of social and political societies and the heart and soul of the very human artists who live within them.

Paired, there are immediate differenes in color palette and patterns between the Serbian and American artists. Durden and Ray artists dive into deep color and bold shapes; the Serbian artists rely more on a graceful minimalism in both palette and form.

The differences coalesce into a woven dialog of abundant beauty and precise tradition.  Exhibiting artists include artists:

Djordje Arnaut, Lore AKA Lortek , Željka Momirov, Miodrag Perić, Tanja Strugar, Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Snezana Saraswati Petrović, Joe Davidson, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, Max Presneill, Regina Herod, Ismael De Anda III & Eugene Ahn, and Arezoo Bharthania.

Petrovic straddles both Serbian and U.S. based artist groups. Originally from the Belgrade area, she is now a member of Durden and Ray, and was the catalyst in creating this exhibition.

The exhibition’s wide range includes work rooted in vibrant street art, sculptural forms that transcend the traditional, and transcendent work rooted in memory. There is also that soars beyond the typically temporal, as in the VR installation of Ahn and De Anda. Regardless of medium or the location of the originating artists, these images sing with humor as well as grace.

Smart, sophisticated, and using a wide range of materials, the exhibition not only spans art around the globe but within the heart and soul. So what happens when two art collectives collide and conjoin? Universal art magic.

May there be more such, which given Petrovic’s prediliction for engaging in international. boundry crossing wonder, it’s extremely likely there will be. Stay tuned.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the gallery and Snezana Saraswati Petrovic

 

Donna Isham Offers The Power of Presence

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Energetic brush strokes and a swirling mix of the abstract with figurative iterations make artist Donna Isham‘s new exhibtion, The Power of Presence, rivetingly strong and bright.

Opening this Saturday, November 8th at Walstory Gallery in Manhattan Beach, Isham’s exhibition vibrates with color and fascinates with its layers of visceral feeling. Combining a mix of new figurative and abstract works with a large-scale installation that plunges viewers into her world of color and motion-filled form, Isham’s images dance with sheer energy, light, and motion.

The exhibition’s heart is the artist’s collaborative installation, “Glass Between Us.” Isham describes the massive 84 x 64 acrylic and charcoal work as “both painting and environment…animated by sound and light.” The installation’s multi-faceted meaning is reflected by the layers that comprise its surface, a substantive and mesmerizing meditation on “human intimacy and separation, its layered surface reflecting the emotional terrain of modern communication.”

The sound portion of the piece is an original score created by Isham’s husband Mark, using ambient synthesizers and melodic instrumentation. Isham says this sound track “amplifies the tension and tenderness of the paintings’ visual rhythm, creating a sensory duet between sight and sound.”

And, to extend the experience of the installation further, viewers will see lush animated of the artwork, creating the sensation that viewer may also be a part of the art work itself, as if one had walked into an entirely new and highly cinematic world.

Along with this vibrant installation, Isham offers a wide range of abstract and figurative iterations of her art. In some works, she uses layered materials such as acrylic, graphite, paper, oil stick and wax; in others, she is working solely with acrylic on canvas. The commonality between each diverse work is a sense of motion, of lustrous and powerful energy, or in some cases, the opposite in terms of motion: the soft, held-breath sensation of tranquility and stillness.

There is an inner glow to these works, which seem to vibrate with emotion and self-contained memory. Using bright colors or inky black, Isham’s art resonates with a sense of bold expression and the movements, rituals, and passions of life itself.

Isham describes both her work and life experience as riven with the ” fragility and strength of being in relation to another.” Emotions, feelings, and the pulse of existence are all present in images that sing with light, shadow,  and shifting colors as well as with a raw and delicate balance of feeling and seeing.

In “Green Block,” above, acrylic paint, collaged paper elements, and graphite merge to create an emotional history, a charteuse and rose explosion of memory, the passage of time, and what is too deeply personal to transcribe in literal terms. It is a poetic piece, one that allows the viewer to impart one’s own memories, while feeling the magic infused by Isham’s own.

The artist’s figurative work, such as her acrylic on canvas potratit “She,” often expresses the sensation of an immediate moment caught in time.  The beautiful heavy-lidded figure here seems poised on the verge of recognition, about to speak or cry out, or perhaps she is temporarily unable to move, awed or surprised into stillness. The pale blue-grey that runs liquid shadows behind her and along her cheeks and neck creates an atmosphere that is charged with both sadness and grace.

Similarly, Isham’s “Flight in Black and Taupe,” a seamless blend of the abstract and figurative, also blends a feeling of staying caught in a singular moment in time with a rush of imminent motion. Working in acrylic, graphite and oil stick on canvas, Isham gives us what appears to be a woman with her back turned,  dancing with, or holding onto another person with bent head and encircling arms. It is a moment both tender and fraught, with the abstract blacks and beiges and grays around her potentially the twirl of other figures in motion, or ghost-memories of them.

“Poetry in Motion” blends graphite, acrylic, and paper on panel for a layered effect throbbing with color, combining images of roses with orange sunlight, perhaps the curled tail of a cat, the square of a phone about to snap a photo, or a picture frame, waiting to hold sunlight and flowers, and preserve them for all time.

“Blue Swirl” uses similar mediums to evoke the floral, capture a haunting smile on a partially obscured female image, and offer up what appear to be bubbles floating with light and air in a cluster of inchoate beauty.

Viewers can themselves float in to Walstory Gallery this Saturday from 6-8 p.m. for The Power of Presence. Walstory is located at 919 Manhattan Avenue in Manhattan Beach, CA.

  • Genie Davis; photos provided by the artist and gallery