Nomad and Tryst — The Ultimate Art Shows

Posted on by Diversions LA

Fantastically diverse, filled with amazing original art, brilliant in concept, and packed with simply cool stuff to experience – that’s the alternative art fair/pop-up art exhibit extravaganza of Nomad and Tryst, presented under the auspices of the Torrance Art Museum and the City of Torrance,  held at the mostly-empty space of Del Amo Crossing in Torrance, Calif. in mid-August.

Always a phenomenal experience, NOMAD was back for the third year, and TRYST for its second.

NOMAD (images above) took over all of the 5th floor and half the second this year, celebrating exhibits by Southern California Artists in a vast array of mediums from neon to sculpture to paintings and photography, as well as installations and even live slight of hand. Thes non-commercial exhibition showcased work from over 150 artists from Southern California and beyond, in an environment of creativity and collaboration.

TRYST, which packed the entire third floor of Del Amo Crossing with inventive and experiential art, is an international alternative art fair for artist-run spaces and initiatives, and as such, provides global exposure and fosters artistic exchange. Over the course of a week, participants exhibit their artists, share ideas, and explore Southern California’s art scene. On view was performance art,  painting, sculpture, photography, video art, installation, and immersive spaces.

Among my favorites was this fabulous performance art work, which encompassed two floors and provided a gold painted and preserved “baguette” souvenir as part of its recreation of a Romanian bread-line experience in the 1980s. The creators represented ETAJ Gallery, above.

Another favorite was closer to home: for Wonzimer Gallery, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic and Alison Woods created a massive installation of box cut-out peep shows featuring a wide range of Southern California artists with a dazzling range of miniature works.

Also memorable were cool gallery spaces from Durden and Ray, celebrating the City of Angels; from Tiger Strikes Astroid turning everything golden yellow; immersive and exciting paranormal-infused performance art from Noysky Projects; an hilarious public swimming pool from Hyperlink Gallery in Denver; a recreation of life at the Poor Farm by the nHnT Collective.

TRYST participants overall included:
Visiting Collectives: AAC Platform (Italy), After Time (Portland, OR), Art Center of Social Studies (Armenia), ARTSPACEMEXICO (Mexico), Available Art Space Projects (Las Vegas, NV), DE BOUWPUT (The Netherlands), Dinghy Rig (Fort Collins, CO), Eitoeiko (Japan), El Quinto Piso (Mexico), ETAJ (Romania), Gallery 70 (Albania), Hyperlink (Colorado), iBiennaleX (Hawaii), INSTYTUT AVTOMATYKY (Ukraine), ISG (Norway), MinEastry of Postcollapse Art and Culture (Switzerland), nHnT (Chicago, IL), Open O’pen$ (Ukraine), Our Neon Foe (Australia), Proyectos Raul Zamudio (New York, NY), PRP Project Space (Dallas, TX), SFAA (Chicago, IL), Small Projects (Norway), The Black Piglet (Mexico), Utopian Mega Project (Midwest), Vorderzimmer (Brooklyn, NY).
California-based Collectives: 515, 3C Gallery Collective, A&T Gallery, Art in Room, Artbug, Artdrop, AWOL, Crear Studio Gallery, DMST Atelier, Dorado 806 Projects, Durden and Ray, Erect Walls, Flux Art Space, IDOLWILD, JAUS, Junior High LA, Korean American Artist Collective, Landmarks of Art (LOA), MAARLA, Mercury 20 Gallery, The Middle Room, Monte Vista Projects, Nous Ance, Noysky Projects, OCCCA (Orange County Center for Contemporary Art), OFFUS, Portuguese Bend Projects, Prospect Art, Proxy Gallery, Quiet Please, Ruth Gallery, S-Gallery, Shockboxx, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Toy Bin Art, UOOORS, ViCA (Venice Institute of Contemporary Art), Winslow Garage, Wonzimer, Young Projects.

Enjoy the photographic chronicle of this grand, three-day art exhibition, and find yourself if you were there. If you were not – don’t miss partaking in this gift of art the next time it’s presented. And yes, there are hundreds of other images, already shared on Facebook and Instagram that uploading simply couldn’t handle this time around!

  • Genie Davis; Photos by Genie Davis

NOMAD Traverses Realms

Posted on by Diversions LA
World traversing installation by Shelly Heffler

The spectacular NOMAD art exhibition, which ran the weekend of August 28th and 29th at Del Amo Crossroads, a former medical center building in Torrance, was a site-specific series of installations, paintings, photography, drawings, mixed media, sculptures, and just plain fun.

There is so much to mention – and so many photographs – that I cannot include them all, but this show is a fantastic example of art as a community, as an exciting, vibrant, welcoming, innovative experience. Masked and thrilled, artists and attendees enjoyed each others company, introduced new works, riveted viewers with performance, and offered pretty much everything that makes up passionate, talented art in Los Angeles.

Described as a two-day pop-up event to for artists “designed to reforge our connections to each other and our audiences,” over 500 artists exhibited at the free event, which ran from 12-5 p.m. both days.

Annie Clavel
Ben Jackel with a powerful sculpture

First, credit must be paid to the prodigious effort of all the artists and organizers. Torrance Art Museum’s team, from Director and Head Curator Max Presneill to Sue-Na Gay, Assistant Curator; Hope Ezcurra, Registrar; Jason Jenn, Outreach Specialist; City of Torrance staff including Eve Rappoport, Community Services Division Manager; Michael Field, Senior Supervisor; and Marcus Rodriguez, Getty intern. And of course additionally many thanks to the awesome support team of artists and curators Carl Baratta, Sean Noyce, Alexandra Wiesenfeld, Beverly Siu, Daniel Wiesenfeld, and Tom Dunn.

Hagop Najarian

And now to the art.

Snezana Saraswati Petrovic’s brilliantly pointed installation was a dazzler.
Luciana Abait gives us the world
Lustrous carved wood snowshoes from Steven Fujimoto
New work from Steve Seleska
Among the rich work of Hung Viet Nguyen on display
Susan Lizotte with Trine Churchill – respective works to the right of each
Lina Kogan’s wall
Jeanne Dunn took us to her forest panels
Katya Usvetsky’s textile sculptures
Beth Elliot’s awesome textile sculptures
Vojislav Radovanovic’s wonderland
Delicate beauty from Marthe Aponte
Hair sculpture from Kimberly Morris
L. Aviva Diamond’s passionate photographic work
Yozmit’s set for performance art magic
Connie Lane’s wondrous tribute to the deceased
Trine Churchill captivates in her captures of humanity
Parade of artists – stunning graphite and pencil work by John Marcella Grant
Detail of a wonderfully geometric abstract work by Alison Woods
Performance art and installation featuring among others, the work of Amy Kaps
Jodi Bonassi’s detail astonishes
Gul Cagin’s layers
The kinetic fun of motorized art – Debby and Larry Kline explored in this craft
Remarkable mural by Sarah Stone
Sarah Stone’s tiny bee
Steven Wolkoff trucks on
Brilliant interactive work from Cannibalistic Collective
TAM’s Max Presneill introduces the exhibition; his art below
Francisco Alvarado’s vibrant duality
More textile magic
Stevie Love with her rich and glittering hanging
Jeff Frost shows a world on fire
Abstract at TAM fundraising auction, Samuelle Richardson
Jenny Hager’s abstract
Sean Noyce offers another dimension

And there was so much more. A stupendous show, which unfortunately I cannot do justice to in coverage – literally have over 700 photographs. To view more, see our page on Facebook.

And the next time there’s a massive art event – don’t you miss it!

  • Genie Davis; photos: Genie Davis