Mitologías de un Niño Mexicano

(Mythologies of a Mexican Boy)

Vasco Del Rey Solo Exhibition

Opening Reception: 7-10pm Friday  September 19th, 2025

Exhibition Dates : September 19th, -October 12th, 2025

Gallery Hours: 12 pm–7 pm, Thursday - Sunday 

Wonzimer Gallery, 341 S Avenue 17, Los Angeles 90031

Wonzimer is proud to announce Mythologies of a Mexican Boy, the gallery’s first solo exhibition with Vasco Del Rey. Born in southern Mexico and raised in Los Angeles, Vasco has spent the past three years developing a visual language rooted in rupture, ritual, and remembrance. The series exhibited is fueled by the tension between presence and absence—between a Mexico remembered only through childhood memory and a life built far from it. In this space between geographies, Vasco constructs not a narrative but a mythology. Paintings emerge as offerings rather than answers, rich with motifs that resist fixed meaning.

Figures are stripped down and devotional, suspended between tenderness and ache, the personal and universal. The result is not a linear story, but a visual theology shaped by intuition, migration and the quiet insistence to be seen.

At its core, the work grapples with longing—for family left behind, for a home that no longer exists and for a sense of belonging with a fractured identity. Vasco mythologizes the immigrant experience, layering personal history with archetypes. Vasco’s figures appear as vessels, saints, and prayers. They carry both beauty and burden. The body is central: contorted, reaching, weeping, blooming. Often faceless, his figures carry the weight of two homes, two tongues, and the emotional scar tissue of distance. Mythologies of a Mexican Boy is not about nostalgia. It is about what memory does in absence, how it stretches, stains, and sanctifies. A boy’s recollection of his motherland, fused with the strength gained through perseverance, becomes a timeless mythology. Vasco Del Rey’s work is a mythic reconstruction of memory, identity and romance anchored in the psychological weight of the immigrant experience. Wood pallets become a major source of inspiration, the artist finds what was left unseen and transforms them into altars. This act mirrors the immigrant experience itself: the strength to carry without praise, the grace to endure without recognition. In elevating what is often discarded, Vasco offers a quiet reverence for lives built in the shadows, turning survival into a sacred form of expression.

Though deeply personal, this story echoes across countless others—lives marked by displacement, resilience, and love. Vasco does not claim to speak for all, but he aims to paint what many carry silently. In doing so, he hopes to create space for reflection, empathy, and a reimagining of what it means to belong in a world where belonging is never simple. This body of work is a radiant invocation of the enduring mythic spirit woven through all people, histories and cultures - a force that refuses erasure.

Mother Memory

Curated by Toti O’Brien

Opening Reception: 5-10pm Friday  August 15th, 2025

Exhibition Dates : August 15th, -September 12th, 2025

Gallery Hours: 12 pm–7 pm, Wednesday - Sunday.

Wonzimer Gallery, 341 S Avenue 17, Los Angeles 90031

Anita Getzler

Gina Lawson Egan

Peter Liashkov

Marina Moevs

Nadege Monchera Baer

Toti O’Brien

Melinda Smith Altshuler

Nancy Kay Turner

J Michael Walker

"Mother Memory" is a group art exhibit organized by contributing artist Toti O’Brien. The exhibit explores both memories of mothers, mothering, and motherhood, as well as the idea of memory (our human faculty to recall, revive, and reinvent what is no longer accessible to the senses) as a matrix.

In what ways does memory mother us? To what extent does it create us, shaping who we are and what we do? Does it nurture us? Protect us? Can it heal us? Can it instruct and guide us? "Mother Memory" features work by nine Los Angeles-based artists, each bringing their unique perspective to the chosen theme through a variety of artworks. These pieces expand the core concept, introducing echoes of legacy, ancestry, motherland, mother tongue, and — last but certainly not least — the present and future of our wounded Mother Earth.

The exhibition is complemented by a poetry-and-performance event that will take place at Wonzimer Gallery on Friday, August 22nd, from 7pm-9pm. The event will showcase a performance ("Sound Shadows") by artists Cindy Rinne and Katia Hage, a video performance by artist Anita Getzler, and a combination of live and remote readings by seven poets.

Cynthia Anderson

Katerina Canyon

Shahé Mankerian

Toti O’Brien

Alexis Rhone Fancher

Miriam Sagan

Kathabela Wilson

Mother and Child: A Portal

Paintings, Drawings & Tapestries by Lucien Dante Lazar

Sculptural Works by Cybele Rowe, Patrick Nickell, Ann Weber, & Cheyann Washington

Opening Reception: 5-10pm Friday July 11th 2025

Exhibition Dates : July 11th - August 8th, 2025

Wonzimer Gallery, 341 S Avenue 17, Los Angeles 90031

 Wonzimer Gallery presents “Mother and Child: A Portal,” a new exhibition opening July 11th. Inspired by a meditation on Raphael’s Tempi Madonna, artist/curator Lucien Dante Lazar discovered the "portal" in the space between Mary and Jesus – an opening into humanity and divinity.

This exhibition explores the Mother and Child archetype as both tender human connection and exalted spiritual reality, inviting viewers to consider this timeless bond as an entry point into new ways of sensing and perceiving.

“Working with the Mother and Child opens the door to an expansive creative field,” says Lazar. “I’ve discovered an unfolding stream of imagery, understanding, and insight—into myself and into the wider scope of reality.”

“Mother and Child: A Portal” features new paintings, drawings and tapestries by Lucien Dante Lazar, guiding the exhibition’s vision. These are complemented by distinct sculptural works from each of the other distinguished artists: Cybele Rowe, Patrick Nickell, Ann Weber, and Cheyann Washington. Each artist brings their unique material and aesthetic approach to the theme, creating a rich dialogue that deepens the exhibition’s exploration of this enduring relationship.

This exhibition aims to reveal the Mother and Child archetype as a gateway for our times, offering the possibility of reimagining culture itself.

 Slipping Glimpser

 Munro Galloway

 Iva Gueorguieva

 Cameron Harvey

 Aaron Maier-Carretero

 Patrick McElnea

 Wönzimer

 341-B S. Avenue. 17, Los Angeles, California 90031

 (May 23rd  – June 20th, 2025)

 Opening: Friday, May 23rd, 5-10pm

 “When I’m falling, I’m doing alright. And when I’m slipping, I say, ‘Hey, this is very

 interesting.’… That is a wonderful sensation … to slip into this glimpse.”

 –Willem de Kooning to David Sylvester, 1960

 Wönzimer is pleased to present Slipping Glimpser , an exhibition of five painters working in Los Angeles, connected through a shared commitment to process, improvisation, and dialogue. Through a series of informal studio visits over the past two years, these artists exchanged ideas, shared works in progress, and explored the slipperiness of looking, making, and understanding.

 It began when Iva texted Pat and Munro for a studio visit. They went to her studio on North Spring Street, near the LA River, where Cameron was already waiting. Aaron showed up a little later. Together they moved the giant paintings around, shifting them to see from different angles.They talked about habitats, craters, tornadoes, ghostly transparencies, and dotted lines. Iva gave everyone a drawing, and afterward they went to the bar.

 The next time they gathered was at Aaron’s studio. Dapples, his Great Dane, greeted them at thedoor before sprawling in the middle of the room. Aaron’s paintings of cats, birds, sardines, and sandwiches covered the walls. They sat on the floor leafing through drawings, and talked about grids, repetition, and containment.

 At Cameron’s studio her unstretched paintings were piled on the floor like rugs. The canvases were massive, spilling loosely from the walls onto the ground. In the middle of the space was a large cocoon-like mass of colorful plastic painting detritus. Cameron was trying to make it stand on its own. They talked about hides, moths, leaves, midlines, and dancing. 

In Pat’s studio, they looked at oil paintings on panels, made through blotting and wiping. The paintings evoked soot, fog, shadows and sidewalks, and the color of pollution. They talked about mixing color, and how certain combinations evoked a mood. Towards the end, Pat pulled out his collages, with titles, like Eye-eye-foam and Fidelity Futures .

 When they visited Munro’s studio, the walls were covered with hundreds of black ink drawings on newsprint, alongside large oil paintings. Small hand-painted wooden sculptures sat on shelves beneath the drawings. Aaron noticed one painting was upside down, so they turned it around. They looked at the paintings and saw masts, eyes, apertures, doorways and horizon lines. Then they went back to Munro’s house for soup.

Everything is Radiant 

Gary Brewer Solo Exhibition

Wonzimer Gallery 341 S Avenue 17 Los Angeles, CA

Opening Reception: Friday, April 25th, 2025 | 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM 

Exhibition Dates: April 25th - May 16th, 2025

Wonzimer Gallery is delighted to present "Everything is Radiant," a solo exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by Gary Brewer.

Life is an incomprehensible mystery. The forces that have shaped the infinite variations of living things are vast, and our understanding of what we see as reality is a mercurial slipstream of shape-shifting phenomena. Brewer's paintings and sculptures express his deep love of life and a desire to engage in articulating a spectrum of forms that reveal a glimmer of the metaphysical order in life's rich pageant.

Inherent in each of the life forms in Brewer's paintings or in the abstract biomorphic shapes of his ceramic sculptures, there is a quality that conveys the tenacity and complexity of this animate universe. Orchids, corals, gold formations, and lichens are a part of the lexicon of images that he uses in his paintings. In each of these subjects, we see something that instantly engages our mind, bodies, and imagination. The animated character of these shapes has intrigued Brewer for years. They express in their elemental designs, a life force that begets the complex unfolding of our world, adapting and metamorphosing to flourish in an ever-changing environment.

Brewer's ceramic sculptures are polymorphic; they suggest sea life, the body, and erotic orifices. The rich overlay of glazes excites the mind and suggests lichens, mosses, encrustations from the sea, dried salt flats, and myriad other phenomena. The sculptures are created without a design in mind. They unfold in an intuitive process; the sensual experience of feeling and shaping form through his hands guides him; Brewer creates his sculptures more through touch than sight.

Brewer feels as though the colorful and dynamic glazes in this body of works are a form of 3-dimensional painting. These ceramic sculptures are a recent and fascinating new development in his life as an artist; they are a reflection of the subject matter in his paintings transformed into a new physical expression.

Windswept

Curated by Genie Davis

On view:  March 21 – April 17, 2025 | Reception: March 21, 2025    5-10 p.m.

Artist’s Talk: March 30, 2025  3-5 p.m.

Curatorial Walk Through/Closing: April 17, 2025 5-8 p.m.

Regular Gallery Hours: Wednesday-Sunday 12-7 p.m.

Location:  Wonzimer Gallery

341-B S Avenue 17, Los Angeles, CA 90031

email: wonzimergalleryinfo@gmail.com

Website: https://www.wonzimer.com/

Windswept, opening March 21st in Los Angeles, is an immersive group exhibition featuring over 15 painted works from throughout international artist Susan Ossman’s career in conjunction with sculptural, photographic, collage, video, and installation works by artists including Dani Dodge, Angelica Sotiriou, Beth Elliott, Linda Sue Price, Snezana Saraswati Petrovic, Diane Cockerill, Bruce Cockerill, Scott Meskill, Eileen Oda, Jason Jenn, Nancy Kay Turner, and Nancy Voegeli-Curan.

The exhibition explores each artist’s own unique vision of wind, from lush oil and acrylic to potent abstract neon art and otherworldly mixed media. While you can’t see the wind, you can envision what it creates: sand and soil, propagated flowers and seeds, the sails of ships, ocean currents, kites soaring aloft, magical balloons, tossing tumbleweeds, birds drifting on warm ocean currents, the ominous wreckage of storms both natural and societal, or the ungovernable spread of fire and ash.

Wind has always played an enormous role in both the world’s ecology and in the lives of humans.

Wind is a mood and a feeling, a part of our culture, our literature, and our desire for change. In the novella Red Wind, noir writer Raymond Chandler describes the wind in Los Angeles as “…one of those hot dry Santa Ana’s that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch.”  Kahlil Gibran writes in The Prophet, “The breath of life is in the sunlight and the hand of life is in the wind.” South African philosopher Mokokoma Mokhonoana says, “To most human beings, wind is an irritation. To most trees, wind is a song.” And of course, we all know that when we question our situation in life, as Bob Dylan sings, “The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind.”

 The works in this exhibition are all about the pull of wind, encompassing images that traverse the seasons. Conceived as a group exhibition, while not conventionally collaborative, the artwork swirls together in a wide range of mediums, examining how this natural phenomenon and its symbolism affects all aspects of life on this planet.

 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin says, “Matter is spirit moving slowly.” But in the matter of wind, it is spirit moving rapidly, coursing through the world, the mind, the heart, and art.

 - Genie Davis, curator

We Insist On Growing - Cheyann Washington Solo Exhibition

Wonzimer Gallery 341-B S Avenue 17 Los Angeles 90031 / wonzimerinfo@gmail.com

Opening Reception:  February 21st, 2025  | 7 pm - 10 pm  Exhibition Dates: February 21st, 2025 - March 14th, 2025

Wonzimer Gallery is delighted to announce Cheyann Washington's solo exhibition titled "We Insist On Growing." This exhibition marks Washington's second solo show with the gallery and showcases her ongoing process of making and using her own natural pigments.

The title, "We Insist On Growing," reflects the resilience and persistence found in nature, a central theme in Washington's work. It serves as a reminder of the continuous cycle of life and the inherent drive within both humans and the natural world to evolve and thrive.

Washington is an artist deeply connected to the natural world. Her meticulous practice revolves around creating figurative artworks using only earth pigments derived from rocks, minerals, and other organic materials. This unique process imbues her work with a vibrance and a sense of connection to the earth.

"We Insist On Growing" unveils Washington's latest paintings, sculptures, and her exciting new path into the world of ceramics. The exhibition explores themes of growth, interconnection, and the enduring power of nature. Washington's captivating figures, both human and plant-like, reflect a deep understanding of organic forms and celebrate the cycle of life.

Transience to the Infinite: A Scientific Exploration of Time and Space

Curated by Cynthia Penna

Opening: 5 pm-10 pm, Friday January 17th 2025
Dates of Show: January 17th - February 14th 2025

Wonzimer Gallery

341-B S Avenue 17 Los Angeles 90031 / wonzimerinfo@gmail.com

Featuring: Bonita Helmer, Laddie John Dill, Ann Weber, Alaïa Parhizi, Max Coppeta, Todd Williamson, Khang Nguyen, Amedeo Sanzone, Nurit Avesar, Lisa Bartleson

Transience to the Infinite brings together a diverse group of ten artists whose works offer unique perspectives on the ephemeral nature of existence and the boundless possibilities of the universe.

In “God, Science, Evidence: The Dawn of a Revolution”, Olivier Bonnassies, alongside Michel-Yves Bolloré, posits that contemporary scientific research inexorably points to the existence of a Creator God—an assertion that may seem provocative in the realm of empirical inquiry. The authors intertwine cosmology, physics, history, and theology in an ambitious attempt to bridge the oft- assumed divide between faith and reason. The premise is bold: "With the discovery of thermodynamics," they argue, "we learn that the universe is wearing down, heading toward thermal death. If the universe had a beginning... then there must be a God."

This concept hinges on three core scientific principles: first, the recognition that the universe is inextricably composed of time, space, and matter; second, the certainty that it had an absolute beginning; and third, that its fine-tuned laws seem almost tailored to allow for the emergence of complex life. With such findings, the authors claim that science itself defines what ancient philosophies and religions have long identified as God—a transcendent, external force that crafted the universe, ultimately allowing for human existence.

Yet, despite these weighty claims, the exhibition tied to this discourse does not seek to validate or refute the existence of such a divine entity. Rather, it aims to explore the nuanced intersection between human experience, daily struggles, and spiritual transcendence—where art becomes a means of navigating the liminal spaces between the physical and metaphysical.

The transcendental, often viewed as timeless and spaceless, resonates deeply with the core of artistic creation. Far from the strict boundaries of scientific inquiry, art ventures into those vast unknowns where metaphysics and human consciousness collide. This exhibition invites viewers to contemplate moments of "divine" revelation, not in the religious sense, but as profound instances in which the mind perceives beyond the material world, tapping into a realm that surpasses time and space.

In art, humanity seeks such revelations—a desire to transcend the mundane and ascend to a higher, perhaps mystical, plane. This echoes across cultural and religious contexts, in which the ultimate goal is to connect with what is often referred to as GOD. The role of art in this quest for spirituality is fundamental. As a visual medium, art provides the vehicle for meditative introspection, offering viewers a window into higher truths.

Saint Paul’s assertion in his Sermon at the Areopagus of Athens that “God created man so that he might seek Him” resonates here, as art becomes the catalyst for such a search—an intimate and often silent dialogue between the viewer and the ineffable.

But what of mysticism in the contemporary era? Is there still space for such contemplation in our material-obsessed world? Wassily Kandinsky provides a prophetic answer. He once remarked on the "tragic collision between matter and spirit" in his era, foreseeing the rupture of a purely materialistic worldview. Kandinsky's words, spoken over a century ago, describe a cultural crisis that feels remarkably familiar today—a time marked by uncertainty, disorientation, and spiritual yearning.

His own artistic journey shifted from representing the objective world to delving into the inner Klang (the “inner sound” or “inner need”), striving for a spirituality and transcendence that go beyond the mere physical representation of reality.In this sense, Kandinsky’s message is uncannily relevant to our current moment. As we grapple with a world increasingly dominated by superficial material concerns, the existential questions of theearly 20th century resurface. His call for spiritual awakening, through art, suggests that refuge in the spiritual or even in art itself is insufficient on its own. Rather, what is required is a fundamental transformation of our way of being, rooted in introspection and a relentless pursuit of justice—both personal and collective.

This transformation begins with an acknowledgment of our own smallness within the vast, intricate mechanism of the universe. If we could pause to truly grasp the magnitude of what lies “OUT THERE” beyond our limited world, perhaps only then would we see art and introspective thought as the fragile but powerful tools they are: means of reconnecting with a broader, more profound sense of existence.

The exhibition thus calls on us to reflect on this urgency for change. It urges a recalibration of our behaviors, anchored in the realization of our finitude and insignificance in the grand cosmic design. And yet, it also reminds us that, within this immense scope, we have the capacity for profound insight, expression, and—through art—a connection to the infinite.

by Cynthia Penna

Saturday, Dec 28

8:00pm – 1:00am

ONE NIGHT ONLY GAMES - MUSIC - FOOD AND DRINKS - PERFORMANCES -TREASURE
 Celebrate luck, art, and the turning of the wheel! Lose yourself in games created by a roster of the greatest artist. This is more than a Carnival - it’s Jubilant Jupiterian celebration to set the stage for an abundant future. The Carnival of Benevolent Fortune. Be there, or the gods will know. Face Painting, Games, Rides, Music, Performances, and much more! Entry $5 Tickets $1 = 1 Game

Sometimes A Wind Blows
Wonzimer Gallery
341-B S Avenue 17 Los Angeles 90031 / wonzimerinfo@gmail.com Opening: 5 pm-10 pm, Friday December 6th, 2024
Dates of Show: December 6th, 2024 - January 10th, 2025

Ian Douglass, Joel Otterson, Jess Goehring, Cheyann Washington, Liv Aanrud, Brittany Kiertzner, Uzumaki Cepeda, Monica C. LoCascio, Kristin Reger, Renata Daina, Daniela Parhisi, Preston Douglas Boyer, Lucien Dante Lazar, Lissy Funk

Wonzimer is proud to present Sometimes A Wind Blows, a group exhibition exploring the diverse possibilities of textile art. The title of the show, taken from David Lynch’s Blue Velvet soundtrack, reflects the sweeping, ephemeral meditation of material on display.

Each artist showcases a wide range of techniques and media, from embroidery, weaving, painting, printing, and knitting to experimental manipulations of linen, velvet, or silk. Bringing together legacy artists with new generations of artists, this show explores the enduring appeal of textile art, as both tangibly luxurious and mysterious.

Installation, sculpture, and the inherent relationship to the surface of painting are all invoked in this exhibition. The disparate works coalesce into a shared sense of this romantic freedom offered by textiles: of the ethereal yet deeply felt whisper of wind that we interface with through fabric. An explicit sense of craft pushed into novel forms, emerges as a crucial concern in this diverse field.

From this expansive perspective, the works on display invite viewers to engage with the tactile nature of textiles, with shimmering significance in the contemporary zeitgeist. Exploring the environmental implications of material choices and through-lines of historical and cultural connection, Sometimes A Wind Blows offers a panoramic perspective on the world of textile art.

Wonzimer Gallery 341-B S Avenue 17 Los Angeles 90031/ wonzimerinfo@gmail.com

Opening: 5-10 pm, Friday, November 1st, 2024

Dates of Show: November 1st - December 1st, 2024

Exhibiting Artists: David McDonald, Khang Nguyen, and Jennifer Sirey

The vision and philosophy of interconnectedness in the Flower Ornament Sutra serve as the basis for this exhibition. The central principle of this text is the fourfold Dharmadhatu (realm of reality).

Of the four aspects of the Dharmadhatu, the first two are the universal and the particular.  One can determine their meaning by referring to other terms used to describe them, such as the ultimate and phenomenal, absolute and relative, identity and difference, ontological and ontic, nondual and dual, one and many, etc.

This text does not consider the realization of the nonduality of Being to be the utmost and final objective.  This is due to the emphasis on integrating that realization into everyday activities—that is, into the particular, the second aspect of the Dharmadhatu.

That leads to the third aspect of the Dharmadhatu, the interconnection of the universal and the particular.  The nonduality of the universal can give rise to particular differences without itself becoming differentiated.  Conversely, the individual can find common ground in the universal without itself becoming common.  This suggests that these two dimensions are inseparable without being conflated.

The interconnectedness of particular beings constitutes the fourth aspect.  From this vantage point, phenomena can be understood as a field of congruous beings rather than adversarial ones.

The audience is invited to view the artwork of David McDonald, Khang Nguyen, and Jennifer Sirey through the prism of the fourfold Dharmadhatu.