Echoes of the Self Resonates at Durden and Ray

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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

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

 

Innovative and Exciting Exhibitions at the Bendix

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While each of these splendid shows now at the Bendix in DTLA’s fashion district are worthy of their own review, time, and an imminent last weekend September 6th, waits for no one. So let’s take a look at the exuberant exhibitions currently at the Bendix, and mark your calendars for a viewing this coming weekend.

On view 12-5 p.m. at Durden and Ray is the winner of the gallery’s SPOTLIGHT24, the Durden and Ray member committee reviewed  solo exhibition proposals for the gallery. Winning artist Shannon Freshwater was born into a Las Vegas environment few visitors have seen, a mix of Mormon and Souther Baptist religion and hippie artists. Viewers will experience a witty yet ominous living room scene in the front gallery, while mirrored images dance with the viewers own in the second. It’s a garden of strange, surreal, slightly spooky delights using textiles, paintings, and unusual surfaces to render a world gone deliciously mad.

Persons Unknown is presenting another solo show that’s dusted with the whimsical and determinedly wild, in both texture and territory. The Museum of Human Touch imagines a future — that frankly doesn’t seem too distant — where our intimacy with screens has replaced physical experience. Only in this world, sculptures shaped from digital waste ranging from packing materials to discarded gadgets and ephemera are the unique visualization of reshaped human identity. , reshaping our bodies and identities. Featuring sculptures crafted from recycled digital waste such as obsolete gadgets, medical tubing, and packaging materials, the exhibition explores the seductive pleasure and hidden violence of our device-driven lives, challenging us to reconsider the fluidity, fragility, and possibility of the human body in a tech-saturated world. The boldly textural and delightfully weird are conjoined in a series of devastatingly and wonderfully weird works from Agustin Rosa.

At Tiger Strikes Astroid, and also closing this weekend is El Portal, a rich and wonderfully mind-opening exhibit organized by Ricardo Harris-Fuentes and Lauren Armstrong. Comprised of the workd of six visual and five performance artists, the theme is transformation and transcendent reality as assisted by the visionary experience of ayahuasca ceremony as its inspiration point. We had the pleasure of viewing a roof-top live performance by artist Sean Noyce involving a gorgeous metallic shield on exhibit in the gallery along with a consciousness pyramid sculpture, which Armstrong used in another galvanizing rooftop performance.  The group show is inspirational and aspirational.

Down the hall at 515, books are the mind blowers… in this large group exhibition, you can indeed judge a book by its artisically created cover, as artists shape visionary book favorites with covers that more than live up to the words on the pages between.  Artists were asked to pick their favorite books and create a cover to fit their vision, and wow, were these visions extraordinary. Just a fun and brilliant show, it will make you want to pick up a book and read it — and imagine your own cover to hold it. Fabulous use of sculptural materials and engaging visions of the meaning writ within the books. Special Collections II will be holding a closing reception from 7 to 9 p.m on the 6th. Take a look at the online library linked above and view its wide ranging artists, and go visit. These books will never be banned.

And last but not least, in Monte Vista Projects, a debut solo of bronze and porcelain sculptures, Invitation, by Renée Pepion is a feast of things floral, feminine, and unconventionally lovely, or as the artist describes the work “my way of processing what it means to be alive in a body.” Inspired by images of the Last Supper, this is a splendid exhibition of twists and turns both terrifying and terrific.

Get thee to the Bendix this weekend for these grand finales.

  • Genie Davis, images by Genie Davis

 

 

 

Past and Perfect – Exhibitions at Durden and Ray, Wonzimer Gallery, and Persons Unknown

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Sometimes life just gets the best of you. You see great shows, post all the photos, and have no time to write the actual reviews. So here are three recently closed, truly wonderful exhibitions that deserve mention. Look for these galleries and artists in upcoming exhibitions throughout the year.

Wonzimer Gallery – We Insist On Growing – Cheyanne Washington 

Cheyanne Washington’s solo exhibition, We Insist On Growing, combined fiercely textured, exciting and sinuous forms wtih the astonishing use of her own natural pigments. If ever an artist deserved the description “alchemist” it would be Washington. Paintings, banners, and a wonderful sculptural work comprised this beautiful exhibition,  the title of which resonates with what the artist calls “the resilience and persistence found in nature.”

There’s a gravitational pull to these works, a life force that seems to arise from nature itself, embodied by the earth-rendered paints and clay. Washington shapes figurative art that exudes a sentient, sensual connection to the natural world, and transcends both its materials and subject, creating work that is serene and absorbing. Both paintings and ceramic works elevate the viewer’s grasp of nature, and relate to the intrinisic joy of creation itself.

If Washington insists on growing, then viewers everywhere should insist on watching her do so.

Currently at Wonzimer: (above) a solo exhibition by Gary Brewer, Everything is Radiant through May 15th, paintings and sculpture.

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Durden and Ray – Tieze – Group Exhibition

Curated by the powerful trio of Arezoo Bharthania, Dani Dodge, and Hagop Najarian, Tieze was the always-inventive collective gallery’s response to the bedecked halls of the Frieze art fair. Fresh and vibrant, the exhibition featured work by Ismael de Anda III, Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Arezoo Bharthania, Jorin Bossen, Gul Cagin, Sijia Chen, Joe Davidson, Dani Dodge, Vita Eruhimovitz, Jenny Hager, Regina Herod, David Leapman, Atilio Pernisco, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic, Carolyn Mason, Hagop Najarian, Ty Pownall, Max Presneill, Dylan Ricards, Stephanie Sherwood, Curtis Stage, Valerie Wilcox, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, and Steven Wolkoff.

From the swirling movement of figurative abstracts by Najarian to Wolkoff’s paint sculpture, magical video from Petrovic, asonishing sculptural works from Pownall and Davidson to small but mighty sculptures utilizing Monopoly pieces by Dodge, there was a medium and a message to compel the eye of any viewer. It would be hard to pick just one favorite among a myriad of stand outs. Bhartania and Hager showed vibrant, multi-layered paintings while Wilcox showed a delicate looking paper cocoon of a sculpture. A far cooler and more cutting edge group exhibition than was present at any of the commercial art fairs this year, the exhibition artists were all Durden and Ray artist/curators, participating in the only show each year dedicated to highlighting all of the Durden and Ray artists’ work as a group.

Currently at Durden and Ray (above): Smiling in Chaos – Group Show – Co-curated by Gonzalo García Gaitán, Ismael de Anda III, Carlos Beltrán Aréchiga through May 18th,  a collaboration between Columbian collective Si Nos Pagan Boys and Los Angeles based artists, all of whom use humor and levity in their work as a form of resistance.

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Persons Unknown – Into the Hamper’s Belly – Group Show

Into the Hamper’s Belly featured four artists working in sculpture, installation, and painting. The group exhibition was devoted to those who “revel in ongoing processes of accumulation and transmutation…[and] a sense of porous frementation.”

Artists Inga Hendrickson, Rachel Elizabeth Jones, Caitlin Servilio, and Corrine Yonce used a variety of atypical art materials ranging from cardboard, cement, pigment, foam, silicone, wax, plastic, sand, and even clamshells, to create an exhibition of diverse artists and art forms that nonetheless presented as a whole; a mystical and organic installation that merged into one being within the cutting-edge gallery floor.

And in the back studio space, the beautiful work of gallerist and artist Ariel Oakley Pelletier.

Currently at Persons Unknown (above): Fumbled Worlds – The Invented People of Alfonse Aletto – through May 20th, a survey of painted works from a prolific self-taught artist.

Look for these galleries and previously exhibited artists as well as current shows ASAP.  Great art is a joy we should all be sharing — especially in today’s precarious world.

  • Genie Davis; photos by Genie Davis and provided by galleries