Collaborative Projects 

Beset On All Sides - June 2017

Durden and Ray is proud to present an unique project, Beset On All Sides In June 2017 at our new downtown Los Angeles space we will present our newest collaborative venture - which will also see the return of our beloved video series of historical re-enactments - to create a new exhibition model for us as a dynamic and co-operating group of artists. 

The exhibition will open on Saturday June 3 and continue its construction throughout the month so viewers can come, watch it develop, interact with the artists and engage with its ideas. We will host a closing reception to present the finished installation on Saturday June 24.

Beset On All Sides will use a set of fluid construction scaffolding structures, over multiple editions of this project in various international locations, composed of artworks by the collaborative group, and invited associates, arranged within the scaffolding. The exhibition will consist of the actual installation, decision-making, group dynamics and negotiation in the process of installing the work and act as a mirror to the methodology of the group’s own structure as well as a investigation of the relationships between meaning, presentation and cognition.

In the Quentin Tarantino movie, Pulp Fiction, the writer/director plays with the logic of narrative and is disrupted by multiple storylines, self referential asides, humorous and hip takes on the tropes of various genres, while maintaining a focused examination of the languages used inside the arc of the ‘story'. Our project plays a similar game. As part of our implicit political position within our scenario we title the proposal after a quote from the character, Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel Jackson), "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men.” As we are based in Los Angeles it seems appropriate to set the stage with a cult movie.

This project will examine relational interactions and complex networked nodes and nexus points to investigate notions of political agency, power & authority, personal identity, societal relationships, taxonomic objectivity, as well as individual artist’s concerns. The relational dependencies of meaning will establish possible readings and through the carefully curated selection of included elements we expect a dialogue to be established with aspects of political critique. To do this Durden and Ray artists will build a physical framework in the exhibition space made from construction scaffolding which will act as the theatrical setting to display sources of information in the form of letters, photographs, notes, art works (paintings and sculptures), non-art objects and more, supplied by members of the group. Any shipping materials will be incorporated into the structure as self-referencing elements. 

Artists: 

Jorin Bossen, Gul Cagin, Jennifer Celio, Sijia Chen, Dani Dodge, Tom Dunn, Lana Duong, Roni Feldman, Ed Gomez, Jenny Hager, Ben Jackel, Brian Thomas Jones, David Leapman, Alanna Marcelletti, Sean Noyce,  Ty Powell, Max Presneill, Nano Rubio, David Spanbock, Curtis Stage, Steven Wolkoff, Alison Wood

DURDEN AND RAY INSTALLATION AT FAR BAZAAR

Cerritos College - Cerritos CA January 28-29, 2017

Cerritos College, in partnership with the Foundation for Art Resources (FAR), presents FAR Baazar 2017, an alternative art fair and art collective festival.

This coming year, 2017, marks the fortieth anniversary of FAR, one of the oldest non-profit arts advocacy groups in Southern California. Throughout the last quarter of the twentieth century, FAR helped to produce some of the most significant alternative art events in Los Angeles. From the monthly Art Talk Art lecture series of the 1980s to the massive FAR Bazaars of the 1990s, FAR was blazing trails for today’s LA art community.

In February of 2017, after over 55+ years of use, Cerritos College will be retiring and demolishing its existing Fine Arts complex. This crumbling mid-century modernist gem, now sits side-by-side with its replacement, a massive new Fine Arts building. Before the old building is torn down, however, Cerritos College, with the help of FAR, will transform every abandoned classroom, faculty office, and administrative space into temporary exhibition spaces, each guest-curated by local art collectives and alternative art spaces, as well as the graduate programs from regional universities and art schools. Because the building is slated for destruction immediately after the end of the event, there is ample opportunity for these various groups to explore alternative methods of installation and even transform the individual spaces into walk-in tableaus that directly engage with the pedagogical nature of the environment.