‘Searching for the lost worlds ’

An exhibition produced in collaboration with Prague-based gallery, Altan Klamovka

1206 Maple Avenue #832 Los Angeles, CA 90015

Run of show:

October 21 - November 4, 2023

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.

Closes: November 4, 2023

Curated by Lenka Sýkorová (Czech Republic)

Artists: Jana Bernartová (Czech Republic), Jorin Bossen (US), Petr Dub (Czech Republic), Roni Feldman (US), Brian Thomas Jones (US), Jiří Kovanda (Czech Republic) Karolina Lizurej (Poland), Darja Lukjanenko (Ukraine), Jan Pfeiffer (Czech Republic) and Hanna Råst (Finland)

Durden and Ray is proud to present Searching for lost worlds, an exhibition by Altan Klamovka, an artist collective based in Prague, Czech Republic. The present can be defined as an uncertain, rapidly changing reality. We move through it while comprehending both physical and virtual worlds. We live in a time when the image is once again becoming the most readable carrier of information across cultures and continents. And our parallel digital identity brings a whole host of challenges with how we present ourselves and others. The present brings into the field of interest the aesthetics of dystopia, myths, and the search for lost worlds.

Using various techniques and materials: the exhibited artists reflect the uncertainty of the present and a certain search for lost worlds, where every shadow can be understood in the context of Plato's ideas as a reflection of the absolute truth of reality. The societal challenges in recent years have taught us to pay greater attention to everyday events, using mindfulness to fully perceive the here and now. As an intimate gesture, drawing is perceived by many artists as the most direct medium for expressing experiences with a sensitivity to small details. Drawing provides space where one can slow down. One can think through drawing. A sketch of an idea has accompanied artists since time immemorial. By combining the mind, eye and hand, an artist can capture the world around us. The combination of focus, interpretation and drawing was the basis for this curatorial project: Searching for lost worlds.

‘Crossing Borders’ and ‘Woven Together’ Two international exchange exhibitions on view at Durden and Ray

Opening reception:
7-10 p.m. Saturday, September 16, 2023

Run of show: September 16 - October 7

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.
Closes: October 7, 2023

Media Contact:
Stephanie Sherwood DandRart@gmail.com

Crossing Borders: One-on-one collaborations between artists about time and place.
Artists: Hans Overvliet, Giel Louws, Jorieke Rottier (The Netherlands) Arezoo Bharthania, Ben Jackel, Valerie Wilcox (Los Angeles)
Woven Together: Exploring Art, Identity, and Culture
Artists: Jon Kraja, Bojken Lako,
Silvi Naçi, Orion Shima, Martin Stommel, Ergys Zhabjaku,
Alexis Zoto. Curated by Curtis Stage.

Durden and Ray invite you to experience two exhibitions in one space. One half of the gallery will be dedicated to Crossing Borders, a collaboration with Ruimte Caesuur in The Netherlands. The other half of the gallery will feature Woven Together, a collaboration with Gallery 70 in Tirana, Albania.

As part of the Durden and Ray exchange program, Crossing Borders was conceived as a collaborative project between six artists; three from the collective Ruimte Caesuur in the Netherlands and three from Durden and Ray in Los Angeles. Each artist from the Netherlands chose a Durden and Ray artist to collaborate with directly, communicating back and forth over time.
Each team of two artists came up with a unique concept for their collaboration and used diverse mediums including; sculpture, painting, photography, and installation. Artist pairings are Hans Overvliet and Ben Jackel, Jorieke Rottier and Arezoo Bharthania as well as Giel Louws and Valerie Wilcox. The central concept being a melding of ideas and objectives over time and place, intermingling their respective experiences. This causes a blurring of boundaries which leads us to question: Is it possible to bring an authentic experience of one place with you to another place, effectively crossing borders?

Woven Together presents a tapestry of artistic voices, cultures, and histories, intersecting at the crossroads of creativity and identity born out of a collaboration between Gallery 70 in Tirana, Albania and Durden and Ray. "Borders" serves as both a theme and a metaphor within this exhibition. It signifies the boundaries that can be traversed, blurred, or dismantled through the act of creation. The interplay of "materials, histories, and symbolism" unfolds in the artworks, representing not only the physical elements used by the artists but also the layers of meaning woven into their expressions. As the artists explore the concept of "desire" and "exchange without changing yourself," the exhibition becomes a platform for shared narratives, bridging the gap between diverse experiences. The featured artists bring their relationships with art and their individual journeys to the forefront. Each artwork is a glimpse into the artist's soul, a manifestation of emotions frozen in time. The art on display is more than just images; it's a testament to the power of weaving diverse threads into a collective tapestry that speaks to the heart, the mind, and the soul.

August 12, 7-10 pm
OPENING RECEPTION.

Please join us for : ‘iMigrate"- The Biology of Transition’ A collaborative project with E T A J artist-run space and Durden and Ray

Run of show: August 12 - September 3, 2023
Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.
Closes: Sept. 3, 2023

Curated by Ilina Schileru & E T A J,

Artists: Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Lana Duong, Ben Jackel, Lucian Sandu Milea, Mircea Modreanu, Răzvan Năstase, Ilina Schileru and Steven Wolkoff.

iMigrate. The Biology of Transition
is a collaborative exhibition presented by E T A J artist-run space and Durden and Ray. E T A J, based in Romania, prioritizes the promotion of Romanian culture in an international context, the exchange of experience, and the strengthening of relations between domestic and overseas cultural artists and galleries. Themes in the exhibition carry Romanian cultural references, including cinema, visual arts or music - old and contemporary. Presenting the exhibition at Durden and Ray is an opportunity for American artists and visitors to be exposed to cultural fragments of Romanian origin, treated in an experimental manner.

Imagined under the framework of creating works with limited resources due to traveling light, the performance-journey entitled iMigrate. The Biology of Transition brings together multiple points of view and perspectives on migration, including the stories of so many other artists who dreamed, over time, of the West. The flight, the initial stressful step into the unknown for those who left home, becomes an essential element of this project. Four artists from E T A J - Mircea Modreanu, Ilina Schileru, Lucian Sandu Milea and Răzvan Năstase - will use the tools they have developed in their individual practices to create works inspired by the journey from Bucharest to Los Angeles. Mircea Modreanu works in plaster, inspired by objects picked up from the street, packaging, sticks, cardboard, and other small objects. Ilina Schileru examines the structure of the societal binder, the stories that connect people in a community. From small interviews with travelers on the plane about separation, parting, and giving up, she’ll extract works in charcoal in a collage of images made in situ, as an assembly of heterogeneous narratives in a collective framework.


Stories from the road are also collected by Lucian-Sandu Milea to outline the "Collector" series, which is works that mix fragments of urban landscapes, silhouettes of buildings and people, and different moments and spaces, superimposed in a crossroads of impossible geometries. Based on photographic documentation, Răzvan Năstase will create a large-scale cyanotype in Los Angeles for the exhibition. Alongside the works by Romanian artists, works by Durden and Ray members Carlos Beltran Arechiga, Lana Duong, Ben Jackel and Steven Wolkoff will create a dialogue between the two communities.
This project is financed by the Romanian Cultural Institute, through the CANTEMIR Program, a funding program for cultural projects intended for the international environment. The Romanian Cultural Institute cannot be held responsible for the content of this material.

The project is organized by SCHILER’S HOUSE, in partnership with E T A J artist-run space and D3M Association, and Durden and Ray in Los Angeles. The E T A J artist run-space symbolically recreates the path of Romanian migrants to America, a mixed ethno-cultural space, which hosts tens of millions of people who once yearned for the legendary American dream. How many Eastern Europeans ever dreamed of running away to America? How many still do? How many woke up from their reverie? Perhaps the American dream has always been just a myth, the hope for justice and freedom underpinned by the tormenting illusion of absurd individualism, which makes success conditional on performance alone.

Malmöfornia Dreamin’ – Bridging the gap between Sweden and California

Opening reception:
7-10 p.m. Saturday, July 8, 2023

Run of show:
July 8-29, 2023
Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.
Closes: July 29, 2023

Curated by Max Presneill and Jorin Bossen

Artists: Ewa Berg, Jorin Bossen, Gul Cagin, Filip Rahim Hansson, Lars Herman Hegg, LiAn (Lisa

Fjellman & Anna Lönn Franko), David Leapman, Christel Lundberg, Tuss Marie Lysén, Carolyn

Mason, Christoph Mügge, Hagop Najarian, Ulrika Pihlström, Stephanie Sherwood, Valerie Wilcox

Durden and Ray invites you to the exhibition Malmöfornia Dreamin’, a unique showcase of works that artistically bridges the gap between Sweden and California.

The exhibition brings together artists from the artist-run exhibition spaces Galleri Rostrum in Malmö, Sweden, and Durden and Ray in Los Angeles.

Following the success of the exhibition A Time and a Place at Galleri Rostrum in May of 2023, Durden and Ray now presents the second installment of this collaboration with works that range from paintings and drawings to videos and sculptures. This collection of works is a reflection of the diverse and unique perspectives and techniques of its gallery members, presenting a singular opportunity for international exchange.

Malmöfornia Dreamin’ proposes a shared vision of creating a space where geography

and language are transcended by artistic expression.

What Remains Shrouded in Darkness
OPENING RECEPTION- June 10, 7-10 pm

Artists: Pat Treyer, and Stephan Wittmer

Curators: Stephan Wittmer and Jorin Bossen

Durden and Ray present What Remains Shrouded in Darkness, an exchange exhibition in collaboration with Swiss art space REDAKTION, a collection of paintings, photographs and instillations examining the human politics of geography and capitalism.

Hopelessness, fine irony, and poetry permeate this collection of instant-culture objects and photographs by Stephan Wittmer, as well as a melancholic nostalgia that is consistently disrupted by the trashy, cheap signs of consumerism. The digital photographs mounted on wooden boards lend themselves a poetic rawness; ochre meets the blue of the sky in between smears of brown: the structure of the wood inscribes itself into the images and makes its presence felt or, rather, seen. Knotholes, at times akin to dark suns, eat into the images like burn marks, which draw the viewer into previously unnoticed details - a tear here or a bullet hole there. These images are at the mercy of time. Where do they come from? Where do they go?

Pat Treyer's new series of drawings depict strange, everyday gestures by women. Applied with thin paint or strong felt-tip pen onto sections of maps of Switzerland as well as other countries, the artist creates an intrusive narrative of placeless actions across roads and valleys, lakes and mountains, thereby opening up a field of emotions and existential questions: What the hell am I doing here? And anyway: how does this go on here and: WHY?

The works of Pat Treyer and Stephan Wittmer encounter each other with a suspended level of imagination while independently they evoke strong associations between homelessness and restless stops in between.

REDAKTION is the exhibition and discussion space of Stephan Wittmer and Simon Kindle. Located in a former car repair station at the center of Lucerne. Their shows are in conjunction with the monthly publication _957 Independent Art Magazine - the editorial office becomes the three-dimensional space of the printed magazine. The archive of all 155 issues to date is permanently accessible, housing numerous unique works by important Swiss artists. Behind the gallery’s big blue gate varied projects are conceived and implemented. The editorial team also provides a platform for young artists. In the adjacent backyard, an overgrown parking lot, unused billboards are repurposed by the editorial office.

“We believe in the global power of driven and engaged artists in contemporary art.”

EXPANSION JOINT opens this Saturday, April 29-, 7-10 pm

Please join us for the reception.

Curated by Hagop Najarian & Stephanie Sherwood

Artists: Gretchen Batchellar, Carsten Bund, Kim Garcia, Larry and Debby Kline, Hagop Najarian, Stephanie Sherwood, HK Zamani

Expansion Joint is an investigation on space by Los Angeles artists whose works are influenced by the particular nature of space both vertically and horizontally in Southern California. LA as a city is unique in that it has both vast open spaces such as deserts and compressed vibrant spaces like its downtown areas. Taking inspiration from the architectural element known as an expansion joint, this exhibition includes works that expand out into the gallery space as well as works that compress space within the picture plane.

Expansion Joint features artworks that both expand and compress, creating spatial interactions throughout the gallery. These expansions also create surreal and challenging environments for the viewer to navigate.

In her series “Stationed”, Gretchen Batchellar’s paintings are made of compressed layers of images that explore her childhood memories and nostalgia of growing up as the daughter of a U.S. Navy fighter pilot and living in Japan. Sherwood’s series of painted furniture is inspired by the often accidentally artful ways that discarded items are piled onto the streets of LA, with a color palette that mirrors the warm sunsets in the city. HK Zamani’s work conflates three-dimensional and two-dimensional forms, and in his new work paintings actively converse with their sculptural counterparts. Larry and Debby Kline’s piece, The Dark Side of the Moon (Phase 3), consists of an eight-foot square ink drawing as well as sculptures of anthropomorphic rabbits, which seemingly emerge from portals to step out of the artwork and into our physical space to speak about the Earth’s looming environmental disaster. Inspired by the technology and innovation of Silicon Beach and the artist’s own personal history with new technology, Carsten Bund’s AI Painter deals with psychological compression and expansion into the digital realm by painting in real time. Hagop Najarian narrates stories that create ambiguity between figure and ground, focusing on a spatial interaction of images and abstraction, which together summon the emotive powers of memory, euphoria and nostalgia. Kim Garcia’s sculptural works expand out into architectural space with ropes, handmade elements and hardware, in the bright palette of LA street vendors who supply dresses and decorations for quinceañeras.

FASHION DISTRICT

March 24, 2023, 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm

Durden and Ray - 1206 Maple Ave. #832, Los Angeles CA 90015
with Support by Madrid City Council

FASHION DISTRICT is an exhibition which examines the immediate neighborhood which Durden and Ray’s gallery inhabits through data collection, drawing, painting, performance, and site-specific installation. This exhibition was developed by artists of Fosforita Madrid, an artistic space dedicated to experimentation, collaboration and artistic training, located in the Lavapiés neighborhood. FASHION DISTRICT is curated by Eva Zaragozá and le frère and includes the work of Arezoo Bharthania, le frère, Juanma González, Tatiana Nazarova, Daniela Soberman, Eva Zaragozá.

TIEZE is a group exhibition of Durden and Ray artists which also includes our newest members. Please join us for this festive event that overlaps the Frieze Art Fair.

Exhibit Runs Feb. 18- March 12 in Unit #832
Also for the one night event in Unit #800 in the Bendix Building

 Seer/Seen

Artists: Luciana Abait, Zeynep Abes, Jorin Bossen, Gul Cagin, Joe Davidson, and Volkan Kızıltunç.
Curators: Jorin Bossen, Gul Cagin, Joe Davidson, Ty Pownall, Daniela Soberman.

Showing: January 14th - February 11th
Opening: Saturday, January 14th, 2023, 6-9pm

Durden and Ray present Seer/Seen, an exchange exhibition in collaboration with Istanbul art space NOKS. Artist Volkan Kızıltunç, as a part of NOKS will be participating in this exchange art exhibition. Kızıltunç’s work is being shown alongside LA artists Luciana Abait, Zeynep Abes, Jorin Bossen, Gul Cagin, and Joe Davidson.

The artists in Seer/Seen at Durden and Ray interweave works around ways of encountering and presenting relationships with the world. Each artist offers both personal and social perceptions to conceive and converse about bodily presence, time, and memory in conjunction with spatial relationships with their environments.

Yet, fragments of reality, be they in photographic images or other mediums are not the only constituents of meaning in these works. Rather than just seizing the world in its external appearance, the works reveal psychological as well as unconscious layers that push our interpretations beyond the frame of what is seen.

We become increasingly aware of our presence within the passing of time through the relationship between moving and still images. The figures within these images sometimes peer back at us to, perhaps, point out that there is a reciprocal energy or element in the gaze. It is not one sided.

Likewise, the landscapes and environments in this show push back against being simply something to be documented from afar. They speak to the psychological power of place and what it means to traverse through the unknown, ultimately bearing witness to an environment’s impact on one’s psyche.

Documenting a person or place makes it familiar but simultaneously draws us to what is still unknown about the subject. We fill in the blanks with imagined narratives and built contexts – ultimately revealing our own subconscious’ predilections. The power of the works in Seer/Seen comes from their irresistible invitation to share in the memories embedded in them, to give them context, and make them part of our own timeline.