Debra Disman

Artist

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TRYST

NOMADIC Encounters: “The Center Will Not Hold” 2025

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I participated in the 2025 Torrance Art Museum’s (TAM) innovative contemporary art pop-up NOMAD IV which was held at Del Amo Crossing, 21535 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503, JULY 11-13, 2025

So Much FUN!

NOMAD IV is a non-commercial exhibition that showcased the diverse and dynamic talents of 175+ Southern California artists featuring sculpture, painting installation and more.

The event itself is a giant artistic get together, aimed at letting artists show what they have been making recently to each other as well as to the wider public. It  presented an opportunity to meet peers, make connections, and arrange for future opportunities. It is a non-commercial exhibition that showcases the diverse and dynamic talents of LA artists.

NOMAD IV was presented alongside the third edition of TRYST, TAM’s international alternative art fair for artist-run spaces and galleries.

I presented a further iteration of my 2023 performance piece,
“The Center Will Not Hold“, this time reimagining the central tarp-based component as a sort of tent, with legs and feet sticking out, a la the classic Judy Garland Wizard of Oz film, which evocation was remarked upon.


Prep at studio. Embroidered Indian shoes long ago gift from sister travels.  Who knew?


All tied up


Packed into zebra beach bag, useful gift from other sister. Who knew?


Expandable/contractable. Basic piece created from a tree landscaping tarp. Flexible material.


Set up near window on second floor of Del Amo Crossing in Torrance. Light streaks across the floor…



Shifting the legs and feet around.


The braids increase the footprint of the work.


Play in texture


Young collaborators rearranged the legs and feet, and then added their own!


The inimicable and always impeccable Louis Jacinto and Kene Rosa, gracing our scene.


Lots of wonderful visitors. Wonder what “Tapestry LA” is?


Virginia Arce, from the Irvine Fine Arts Center, and her partner visited!


What an experience!  Thanks to Max Presneill and the whole team at the Torrence Art Museum and City of Torrance for making the effort to create this magically expansive opportunity for SoCal artists!

EXHIBITIONISTA: TRYST Art Fair

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An Independent, non-commercial, Art Fair for Artist-Run-Spaces and Collectives (Definition of tryst: a rendezvous by lovers at a given time or place, often in secret)
I am participating with Textile Arts LA!

“Profusion”
artists book, mixed fiber media
July 11th to 13th, 2025

Del Amo Crossing
21535 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503Friday, July 11: VIP Opening – 4-6pm
Networking for participating artists 12:00-4:00pm
Saturday, July 12: Open 12-6pm
Sunday, July 13: Open 12-6pm
ADMISSION is FREE!!!

What is TRYST?

TRYST is an international art fair for artist-run-spaces and collectives as well as an international gathering to address the needs and future of global exchange for artist-run spaces, collectives and organizations, run through the Torrance Art Museum (TAM) and the City of Torrance. This will be the third edition of TRYST.

With the need for opportunities and artistic exchange worldwide between grass-roots artist organizations, this fair aims to facilitate the exposure of international artists to new Los Angeles audiences, and to network with each other, to engage and to provoke further international exchanges and interaction between participants. Talks and performances will included in the program, as well as social events for participants.

2025 PARTICIPATING SPACES: 

INTERNATIONAL: Alpha Contemporary (Tokyo), Artspace Mexico (CDMX); AYN Gallery (Paris), The Black Piglet (CDMX), BLECH (Germany), The Bureau of Queer Art (Mexico/USA), Changeable Beasts (London), Estudio Marte (CDMX), The Farm & Distillery (Berlin), FokiaNou Art Space (Athens), MinEastry of Postcollapse Art and Culture (Switzerland), Open O’pen$ (Ukraine), PASAJ (Istanbul), Plomo (CDMX), Shelter Artists Run Space (Portugal/Turkey)

NATIONAL: 601 Artspace (NYC), After / time (Portland), Dark Time Poetics (Chickamauga, GA), FSN Contemporary (NYC), Mercury20 (Oakland, CA), Hyperlink (Denver, CO), ICOSA Collective (Austin, TX), Millie Benson Projects (NYC), Proyectos Raul Zamudio (NYC) ,PRP (Dallas, TX), SFAA (Chicago/ San Francisco), Scrambled Eggs (Las Vegas), South Square Studios (Las Vegas), TAD Projects (Denver, CO), Taos Abstract Artist Collective (TAAC) (Taos, NM), Teleportal (NYC), Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL)

SO-CAL: 515, 3C Gallery, Ace Tiger Gallery,  Allied Special Projects, Alt projects, Art Hive Collective, Artemia (Solas Art Center), AWOL, bed crumb show, Dorado 806, Durden and Ray, Erect walls, Flux Art Space, Idolwild, Inglewood Open Studios (IOS), JAUS, Kipaipai, Korean American Artist Collective (KAAC), Landmarks of Art (LoA),Monte Vista Projects, Nous-Ance, OFFUS, Open Gallery, Open Mind Art Space, Orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA), Proxy Gallery, Quiet Please, Range Projects Gallery, The Revolution School, Ruth Gallery, S-Gallery, South Bay Artist’s Collective (SBAC), Textile Arts LA, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Toy Bin Art, UOOORS, Venice Institute of Contemporary Art (ViCA), Women Painters West (WPW)

NOMAD IV Presented By The Torrance Art Museum

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NOMAD IV is a non-commercial exhibition that showcases the diverse and dynamic talents of Southern California artists.
Organized by the Torrance Art Museum
Happening: JULY 11-13, 2025


A giant artistic get together, NOMAD is aimed at letting artists show what they have been making recently to each other as well as to the wider public. It is an opportunity to meet peers, make connections, and arrange for future opportunities. It is a non-commercial exhibition that showcases the diverse and dynamic talents of LA artists.

This year’s exhibition will once again take place at Del Amo Crossing in the heart of the South Bay region of Los Angeles located at 21535 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503. The space itself features open plan concrete floors where  150+ artists will be presented alongside the third edition of TRYST, an art fair for alternative galleries and artist run initiatives.