Durden and Ray

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

11/14/2025

CLOSING RECEPTION November 22 5pm-7pm

Echoes of the Self
Contemporary Explorations in Self-Representation

October 25 - November 22, 2025

CURATORS
Valerie Wilcox, Jenny Hager

ARTISTS
Nina Alvarez, Nicole T. Belle, Rory Devine, Ayin Es, Mark Steven Greenfield,
Jenny Hager, Nichol Marsch, Randi Matushevitz, Dakota Noot, Mei Xian Qiu, Vojislav Radovanović, Jennifer Strings, Chidi Ukwuoma, Valerie Wilcox, Eden Yono

Echoes of the Self: Contemporary Explorations In Self-Representation examines the contemporary human experience through modes of self-representation and investigating the intersection of personal narrative. Many of the self-portraits address issues such as gender, race, mental health, and identity politics, providing a powerful commentary on the ways in which our identities are shaped by the world around us. Through these works, artists share their personal stories and experiences, inviting viewers to connect with and reflect on their own sense of self.

Self-portraiture has always been a deeply personal and introspective art form. In our current era, marked by technological advancements and shifting cultural landscapes, artists are continually reimagining how they represent themselves. Echoes of the Self showcases a wide range of methods, from traditional painting and drawing to digital art, AI, photography, mixed media, sculpture and installation. Each piece in this exhibition offers a unique lens through which to view the artist's identity, capturing the multifaceted nature of the self.

While also considering the significant role that digital technology has in shaping our self-perception, current contemporary self-portraiture often blurs the line between real and virtual. Artists are experimenting with digital tools and virtual and augmented reality as they reflect the dynamic, ever-changing nature of contemporary identity, shaped by social media and digital interaction.

Echoes of the Self: Contemporary Explorations in Self-Representation, offers a rich and dynamic exploration of how artists today are redefining the practice of self-representation. Through this exhibition, we hope to illuminate the evolving nature of the self and inspire a deeper understanding of the multifaceted and fluid nature of identity in our time.

Durden and Ray
Gallery hours: Saturdays, 12-5 pm, and by appointment
1206 Maple Ave, #832, 8th flr, Los Ángeles

Address

1206 Maple Avenue #832
Los Angeles, CA
90015

Opening Hours

12pm - 5pm

Telephone

+13108044647

Website

http://www.durdenandray.com/

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