Reception for the artists: Saturday May 3, 2025, 3-5 pm.
Beyond Baroque is at 681 N. Venice Blvd, Venice CA 90291. Gallery & Bookstore are open Fridays & Saturdays from 12 - 6 p.m. Wednesdays & Thursdays 2 - 6 p.m. by appointment. For appointments call Ph: 310-822-3006.

Lorraine Bubar and Jody Zellen’s Call and Response is a collaborative project that began in the early days of Covid 19 and is shown in an exhibition for the first time. It was initiated in 2020 by Kristine Schomaker (ShoeboxPR) as a way for artists and writers to stay active during the isolation of the pandemic. Bubar and Zellen began their exchange in 2020 and have continued to send each other collages almost bi-weekly since then: the result is more than 500 digital artworks. When creating images in response to the one they received, both Bubar and Zellen pick an aspect of the picture to respond to — be it a color, shape or figure. Both draw from online repositories for their imagery and fashion these appropriated materials into personal collages. Zellen often uses news photos as the basis of her work, while Bubar culls from representations of nature.

For their Proxy exhibition Lorraine and Jody combed through all the images from their collaboration looking for pairs that resonated. They output them as lenticular prints — images that oscillate between two collages — which are presented along with mirrors to create a labyrinthine effect. A colorful poster with a grid of 100 images that showcases the range of the project will also be on view.
The full collaboration can be seen by scanning a QR code that leads to a website that presents each iteration of the project. http://www.jodyzellen.com/callresponselj/

Rather than a long series of pairs, the images are in fact an endless chain of response-to-response-to-response. This is a good instance of a project that is spontaneous and casual, and at the same time obeys fairly narrow programmatic coordinates. As a historical product of the covid pandemic, it fulfilled all the elements needed: it was a relationship of exchange, it was collaborative, long distance and digital, it combined chance and intention, and, most importantly, it kept isolated artists producing. The later production of lenticular images adds a bodily element, as the viewer has to sway right and left to be able see the two versions. This relatively obsolete pre-digital technology takes a central position in the exhibition and has its own interest in the sense that it adds two kinds of depth: both illusionary and historical.

This project is supported by The Jenni Crain Foundation, an initiative dedicated to preserving the legacy of the esteemed artist and curator. www.jennicrain.com

Annetta Kapon for Proxy Gallery