RIPE
group exhibition

APRIL 26 – JUNE 7, 2008
Opening Reception: Saturday, April 26, 5:00-8:00pm

“RIPE” is a group exhibition of eight artists at d.e.n. contemporary art. On view from April 26 through June 7, RIPE will feature a cornucopia of newly completed pieces by select gallery artists along with two new artists exhibiting for the first time with d.e.n. RIPE captures the rich and fertile pluralism that continues to burgeon in the arena of contemporary art.

The dynamic new paintings, drawings, and three-dimensional pieces in the exhibition serve as an appropriate overview of the gallery program with a special emphasis on conceptual and non-objective work.

Both Carlos Estrada-Vega (Las Cruces, NM) and Teo González (Brooklyn) create labor-intensive works with an underlying conceptual/mathematic design in which patterning is the central practice, resulting in sublime rhythmic arrangements. Coleen Sterritt (Los Angeles) shares a similar accumulative approach in her new collage drawings that include a stacking process of materials as used in the large sculptures the artist is known for.

With a muted palette, Jennifer Kaufman (San Francisco) integrates playful marks in graphite and pastel with bold lines of black tape. The mix of the geometric precision and minimal gesture creates a barren and mystifying environment. This is the artist’s first showing of work with the gallery.

Los Angeles-based artists Michael Napper and Amanda Sefton Hogg, each present oil-based paintings on canvas. Through concepts and the painterly mark, the work skirts the border of painting as illusion versus painting as object.

Also based in Los Angeles, Joshua Levine (exhibiting for the first time with d.e.n.) and Nicola Vruwink present the literal works in the show with three-dimensional pieces from Levine’s curiously mutated trophy head sculptures to Vruwink’s delicate “thread drawings” of gripping car crash scenes.

Drawing inspiration from an array of themes, the artists in RIPE share a dedication to craft, appreciation for materials, and innovative notions of expression today.


An opening reception will be held Saturday, April 26, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11:00-5:30. For additional information or to request visual material, contact the gallery at (310) 559-3023 or info@dencontemporaryart.com