Durden and Ray

Durden and Ray An artist/curator collective creating exhibition opportunities at their downtown Los Angeles gallery and in concert with galleries across the globe.

Come and join us this Saturday for the opening exhibition ‘What Builds’, a 2026 Durden and Ray Fellows ExhibitionOpening...
06/01/2026

Come and join us this Saturday for the opening exhibition ‘What Builds’, a 2026 Durden and Ray Fellows Exhibition

Opening reception:
7-10 p.m. Saturday,
June 6, 2026

Run of show:
June 6 - July 11, 2026

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.

Closes: July 11, 2026

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Artists: Luis G. Hernandez, Ben Jackel, Brian Thomas Jones, Alanna Marcelletti, Carolyn Mason, Christopher Mercier, Nano Rubio, Jesse Standlea

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Durden and Ray are pleased to present the 2026 Fellows exhibition, What Builds, which centers work from eight emeritus members of the collective, who continue to support this dynamic community. Working across the fluid boundaries of sculpture, painting, and drawing these artists mine both the political and geological strata of Southern California as they layer material and imagery to better unearth how structures around us both foster and frustrate growth.

Throughout the gallery, a tension persists between rigid supporting systems and the unruly, oozing energy of the materials and ideas they attempt to contain. For some, the constructions on which matter hangs seem up for the challenge, relying on a symbiotic relationship of shared goals and bottom-up support while in others, it’s a matter of time before gravity’s endless pull reduces the tower to a pile. There is strength in numbers, not because of simple arithmetic but because accumulation creates weight and energy, compacting many into one, forming strong foundations on which we can build a more liberated, manifold future.

Durden and Ray Fellows are respected former members of our collective who continue to be affiliated with us, and work to keep our collective strong.

Come to tonight’s event for the closing of ‘Unstable Tongues’ exhibition.‘Unstable Tongues’The Instability of LanguageCl...
05/23/2026

Come to tonight’s event for the closing of ‘Unstable Tongues’ exhibition.

‘Unstable Tongues’
The Instability of Language

Closing reception is tonight from
5-8 p.m.
Saturday, May 23, 2026

Flower Arrangement, an art band—is playing at 6!!!

‘Unstable Tongues’ curated by Dena Novak, Jenny Hager and Valerie Wilcox
Artists: Nick Aguayo, Flower Arrangement, Xixi Edelsbrunner, Jenny Hager, Michael Harnish, Benjamin Heiken, Agnes Hong, David Lloyd, Sarah Mehrinfar, Dena Novak, Max Presneil, and Levon Riggins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —
Durden and Ray are pleased to present Unstable Tongues: The Instability of Language. This exhibition examines abstraction as a living linguistic system, one that fractures, reformulates, and resists clarity. The exhibition brings together artists who use gesture, surface, and structure as communicative tools, exploring how meaning emerges from instability rather than coherence.
Grounded in Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance, the exhibition approaches language as a perpetual act of deferral. Never fixed, always in motion. Roland Barthes’ The Pleasure of the Text and Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel further frame this instability as fertile terrain for visual and emotional meaning. The works in Unstable Tongues do not illustrate theory; they perform it. Through layering, erasure, and transformation, they articulate the limits of language and reveal the material body as a site of communication.

The exhibition proposes that abstraction is not silence but a language of its own: physical, fragmented, and sensorial. Meaning here is built through gesture, through repetition, and through the pleasure of disintegration.

Opening pictures from the wonderful ‘Unstable Tongues’ exhibition.‘Unstable Tongues’The Instability of LanguageOpening r...
05/04/2026

Opening pictures from the wonderful ‘Unstable Tongues’ exhibition.

‘Unstable Tongues’
The Instability of Language

Opening reception:
7-10 p.m. Saturday,
May 2, 2026

Run of show:
May 2 – 23, 2026

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.

Closes: May 23, 2026

Curated by Dena Novak, Jenny Hager and Valerie Wilcox
Artists: Nick Aguayo, Flower Arrangement, Xixi Edelsbrunner, Jenny Hager, Michael Harnish, Benjamin Heiken, Agnes Hong, David Lloyd, Sarah Mehrinfar, Dena Novak, Max Presneil, and Levon Riggins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —
Durden and Ray are pleased to present Unstable Tongues: The Instability of Language. This exhibition examines abstraction as a living linguistic system, one that fractures, reformulates, and resists clarity. The exhibition brings together artists who use gesture, surface, and structure as communicative tools, exploring how meaning emerges from instability rather than coherence.
Grounded in Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance, the exhibition approaches language as a perpetual act of deferral. Never fixed, always in motion. Roland Barthes’ The Pleasure of the Text and Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel further frame this instability as fertile terrain for visual and emotional meaning. The works in Unstable Tongues do not illustrate theory; they perform it. Through layering, erasure, and transformation, they articulate the limits of language and reveal the material body as a site of communication.

The exhibition proposes that abstraction is not silence but a language of its own: physical, fragmented, and sensorial. Meaning here is built through gesture, through repetition, and through the pleasure of disintegration.

‘Unstable Tongues’The Instability of LanguageOpening reception:7-10 p.m. Saturday,May 2, 2026Run of show: May 2 – 23, 20...
04/30/2026

‘Unstable Tongues’
The Instability of Language

Opening reception:
7-10 p.m. Saturday,
May 2, 2026

Run of show:
May 2 – 23, 2026

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.

Closes: May 23, 2026

Curated by Dena Novak, Jenny Hager and Valerie Wilcox
Artists: Nick Aguayo, Flower Arrangement, Xixi Edelsbrunner, Jenny Hager, Michael Harnish, Benjamin Heiken, Agnes Hong, David Lloyd, Sarah Mehrinfar, Dena Novak, Max Presneil, and Levon Riggins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —
Durden and Ray are pleased to present Unstable Tongues: The Instability of Language. This exhibition examines abstraction as a living linguistic system, one that fractures, reformulates, and resists clarity. The exhibition brings together artists who use gesture, surface, and structure as communicative tools, exploring how meaning emerges from instability rather than coherence.
Grounded in Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance, the exhibition approaches language as a perpetual act of deferral. Never fixed, always in motion. Roland Barthes’ The Pleasure of the Text and Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel further frame this instability as fertile terrain for visual and emotional meaning. The works in Unstable Tongues do not illustrate theory; they perform it. Through layering, erasure, and transformation, they articulate the limits of language and reveal the material body as a site of communication.

The exhibition proposes that abstraction is not silence but a language of its own: physical, fragmented, and sensorial. Meaning here is built through gesture, through repetition, and through the pleasure of disintegration.

Installation views from the forthcoming exhibition.‘Unstable Tongues’The Instability of LanguageOpening reception:7-10 p...
04/28/2026

Installation views from the forthcoming exhibition.

‘Unstable Tongues’
The Instability of Language

Opening reception:
7-10 p.m. Saturday,
May 2, 2026

Run of show:
May 2 – 23, 2026

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.

Closes: May 23, 2026

Curated by Dena Novak, Jenny Hager and Valerie Wilcox
Artists: Nick Aguayo, Flower Arrangement, Xixi Edelsbrunner, Jenny Hager, Michael Harnish, Benjamin Heiken, Agnes Hong, David Lloyd, Sarah Mehrinfar, Dena Novak, Max Presneil, and Levon Riggins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE —
Durden and Ray are pleased to present Unstable Tongues: The Instability of Language. This exhibition examines abstraction as a living linguistic system, one that fractures, reformulates, and resists clarity. The exhibition brings together artists who use gesture, surface, and structure as communicative tools, exploring how meaning emerges from instability rather than coherence.
Grounded in Jacques Derrida’s concept of différance, the exhibition approaches language as a perpetual act of deferral. Never fixed, always in motion. Roland Barthes’ The Pleasure of the Text and Jorge Luis Borges’ The Library of Babel further frame this instability as fertile terrain for visual and emotional meaning. The works in Unstable Tongues do not illustrate theory; they perform it. Through layering, erasure, and transformation, they articulate the limits of language and reveal the material body as a site of communication.

The exhibition proposes that abstraction is not silence but a language of its own: physical, fragmented, and sensorial. Meaning here is built through gesture, through repetition, and through the pleasure of disintegration.

PLEASE JOIN US THIS EVENING, 7–10 PM,FOR THE CLOSING OFUNSEATED: THE CHAIR AS METAPHORCOME BY, CONNECT, AND SHARE A FINA...
04/18/2026

PLEASE JOIN US THIS EVENING, 7–10 PM,
FOR THE CLOSING OF
UNSEATED: THE CHAIR AS METAPHOR
COME BY, CONNECT, AND SHARE A FINAL MOMENT WITH THE WORK.

Closes: April 18, 2026

Run of show:
March 21 - April 18, 2026

Curated by Atilio Pernisco
Artists: Marinés Adrianza, Fiona Baler & Pablo Baler, ​Mariano Cinat, Gioj De Marco, Meghan DeRoma, Stanley Edmondson, Regina Herod, Pablo Holocwan, Carmine Iannaccone, Ben Jackel, Raghubir Kintisch, Keith Lord, Eva Malhotra, Krishna Rajendra Malhotra, Barry Markowitz, Carolie Parker, Arnie Saiki, Diane Silver, Ruth Trotter, HK Zamani

Durden and Ray presents UNSEATED: The Chair as a Metaphor which explores the web of symbols generated by one of our most familiar objects: the chair. This exhibit invites the visitor to engage with the chair not merely as a piece of furniture, but as a metaphor at the center of human experience. Inspired by works such as Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Chairs, this exhibition examines how language, representation, and embodied interactions converge to imbue this ubiquitous object with unexpected meanings.

UNSEATED features 20 contemporary artists working in various media: sculpture, installation, photography, and painting, selected for their innovative approaches to the theme while ensuring a cohesive yet diverse exploration. Included are unique reinterpretations of a physical and emotional relationship with space, isolation and connection, instability, balance, fragility, and transformation.

By positioning the chair as a lens through which these skeins of narratives are explored, UNSEATED invites you to consider broader socio-political, cultural, and historical contexts that bring to the fore personal and collective questions of identity, power, and belonging.

As we approach the closing of Unseated, you’re warmly invited to join us this Saturday the 18th from 7–10 PM to mingle a...
04/15/2026

As we approach the closing of Unseated, you’re warmly invited to join us this Saturday the 18th from 7–10 PM to mingle and spend some time together in the gallery.
Track 16 closing event may be taking place around the same time, so feel free to move between spaces and enjoy the night.

Note: For this Saturday the gallery will not be open during the normal business hours.

‘UNSEATED’
The Chair as Metaphor

Closing event: Saturday April 18, 2026, 7-10pm

Curated by Atilio Pernisco
Artists: Marinés Adrianza, Fiona Baler & Pablo Baler, ​Mariano Cinat, Gioj De Marco, Meghan DeRoma, Stanley Edmondson, Regina Herod, Pablo Holocwan, Carmine Iannaccone, Ben Jackel, Raghubir Kintisch, Keith Lord, Eva Malhotra, Krishna Rajendra Malhotra, Barry Markowitz, Carolie Parker, Arnie Saiki, Diane Silver, Ruth Trotter, HK Zamani

Durden and Ray presents UNSEATED: The Chair as a Metaphor which explores the web of symbols generated by one of our most familiar objects: the chair. This exhibit invites the visitor to engage with the chair not merely as a piece of furniture, but as a metaphor at the center of human experience. Inspired by works such as Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Chairs, this exhibition examines how language, representation, and embodied interactions converge to imbue this ubiquitous object with unexpected meanings.

UNSEATED features 20 contemporary artists working in various media: sculpture, installation, photography, and painting, selected for their innovative approaches to the theme while ensuring a cohesive yet diverse exploration. Included are unique reinterpretations of a physical and emotional relationship with space, isolation and connection, instability, balance, fragility, and transformation.

By positioning the chair as a lens through which these skeins of narratives are explored, UNSEATED invites you to consider broader socio-political, cultural, and historical contexts that bring to the fore personal and collective questions of identity, power, and belonging.

‘UNSEATED’The Chair as MetaphorRun of show: March 21 - April 18, 2026Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m. Closes: April 18, 202...
04/10/2026

‘UNSEATED’
The Chair as Metaphor

Run of show:
March 21 - April 18, 2026

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.

Closes: April 18, 2026

Photo credits: Krishna Rajendra Malhotra

Curated by Atilio Pernisco
Artists: Marinés Adrianza, Fiona Baler & Pablo Baler, ​Mariano Cinat, Gioj De Marco, Meghan DeRoma, Stanley Edmondson, Regina Herod, Pablo Holocwan, Carmine Iannaccone, Ben Jackel, Raghubir Kintisch, Keith Lord, Eva Malhotra, Krishna Rajendra Malhotra, Barry Markowitz, Carolie Parker, Arnie Saiki, Diane Silver, Ruth Trotter, HK Zamani

Durden and Ray presents UNSEATED: The Chair as a Metaphor which explores the web of symbols generated by one of our most familiar objects: the chair. This exhibit invites the visitor to engage with the chair not merely as a piece of furniture, but as a metaphor at the center of human experience. Inspired by works such as Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Chairs, this exhibition examines how language, representation, and embodied interactions converge to imbue this ubiquitous object with unexpected meanings.

UNSEATED features 20 contemporary artists working in various media: sculpture, installation, photography, and painting, selected for their innovative approaches to the theme while ensuring a cohesive yet diverse exploration. Included are unique reinterpretations of a physical and emotional relationship with space, isolation and connection, instability, balance, fragility, and transformation.

By positioning the chair as a lens through which these skeins of narratives are explored, UNSEATED invites you to consider broader socio-political, cultural, and historical contexts that bring to the fore personal and collective questions of identity, power, and belonging.

04/04/2026

Come by today. The gallery is open this Saturday from 12-5 p.m.

‘UNSEATED’
The Chair as Metaphor

Run of show:
March 21 - April 18, 2026

Hours: Saturdays, noon-5 p.m.

Closes: April 18, 2026

Curated by Atilio Pernisco
Artists: Marinés Adrianza, Fiona Baler & Pablo Baler, ​Mariano Cinat, Gioj De Marco, Meghan DeRoma, Stanley Edmondson, Regina Herod, Pablo Holocwan, Carmine Iannaccone, Ben Jackel, Raghubir Kintisch, Keith Lord, Eva Malhotra, Krishna Rajendra Malhotra, Barry Markowitz, Carolie Parker, Arnie Saiki, Diane Silver, Ruth Trotter, HK Zamani

Durden and Ray presents UNSEATED: The Chair as a Metaphor which explores the web of symbols generated by one of our most familiar objects: the chair. This exhibit invites the visitor to engage with the chair not merely as a piece of furniture, but as a metaphor at the center of human experience. Inspired by works such as Joseph Kosuth's One and Three Chairs, this exhibition examines how language, representation, and embodied interactions converge to imbue this ubiquitous object with unexpected meanings.

UNSEATED features 20 contemporary artists working in various media: sculpture, installation, photography, and painting, selected for their innovative approaches to the theme while ensuring a cohesive yet diverse exploration. Included are unique reinterpretations of a physical and emotional relationship with space, isolation and connection, instability, balance, fragility, and transformation.

By positioning the chair as a lens through which these skeins of narratives are explored, UNSEATED invites you to consider broader socio-political, cultural, and historical contexts that bring to the fore personal and collective questions of identity, power, and belonging.

Back by popular demand is the newly formatted holiday fundraiser which will support Durden and Ray in its commitment to...
12/07/2025

Back by popular demand is the newly formatted holiday fundraiser which will support Durden and Ray in its commitment to community building, visual research, unapologetic curatorial experimentation, and artistic exchange with local and international artists. Our fundraiser exhibition event will feature works by Durden and Ray members as well as their invited friends.

All works participating at the show will be priced at $200. The purchased works will be packed on the spot and available to take home immediately. In addition, Raffle tickets will be for sale at $20 each or three for $50. Three winners will be selected at 8:30, 8:45 and 9:00pm and they will be able to choose a piece from the remaining artworks.

This is a fun way to add artwork to your collection at a great price, join us for food, drink and company. A huge thank you to the artists who have donated works to this event, Durden and Ray appreciate your generosity.

Address

1206 Maple Avenue #832
Los Angeles, CA
90015

Opening Hours

12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+13108044647

Website

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