Laura Van Duren and Vexed Insurrection by Kathleen King
Dream Farm Commons and Ricky’s Tribune Barbershop Annex
349 & 341 15th St, Oakland
February 1 & 15 — March 1 & 22, 2025
The streets lay quiet and empty as I made my way to Dream Farm Commons, an artist-led space known for hosting everything from art shows to dinners to feminist book clubs. Founded in 2018 by visual artists Ann Schnake, Stacey Goodman, and Robert Gomez Hernandez, Dream Farm has undergone change while staying true to its mission of prioritizing the artist's practice. Currently they are thinking about the sustainability of the space, “with more movement, collective and individual works by other artists, and more formal programing and when it is artists work space.”
A pelt of pink faux fur framed black-and-white close-ups of the artist's aging mother’s body and hands. Ceramic shapes unfurled in conversation with found objects, line drawings and reimagined furniture evoking a deeply personal and introspective feel. The tactile works of Laura Van Duren, the current artist-in-residence, filled the main gallery, greeting me along with fellow artist Kathleen King. This was my first visit, and I was immediately intrigued in how the space displayed art in the building’s ground-floor shop windows.
In her statement, Duren explained that she “investigates ideas of Repair, Restoration, and Resilience through a practice of play in the face of uncertainty, as a response to her own internal world and the external entropy of the present day.” The artist’s discomfort was almost tangible in one wall, where sewn paper—the white sort from doctor visits—revealed a black-and-white print of a vulva, exposed in vulnerable detail. Though it may seem overt, this use of the body as metaphor reflected Duren’s distress over the world’s uncertainty, her statement highlighting her struggle to make sense of a shifting political landscape.
A few doors down, sculptures made from discarded plastic containers were precariously stacked to form spires for King’s “Vexed Insurrection,” filling Ricky’s Barbershop Annex, Dream Farm’s secondary space. The shapes, reminiscent of Gaudi's pinnacles of the Evangelists, feature lines of plastic and string leading from their tips to the floor, where perfect round nests of rags lay. While the materials are far from precious, these pieces create a sobering commentary on waste culture, unapologetically embracing the detritus of our civilization. They refuse to transform or disguise their origins, instead tugging at the viewer's guilt upon confronting the waste created from objects we often use.
King was inspired by Spheres of Insurrection: Notes on Decolonizing the Unconscious by Suely Rolnik, a book read by the Rad Fem Reading Group at Dream Farm. Much of King’s material comes from her walks, and the upward-reaching shapes of her sculptures serve as a reminder to look more closely at the world. Each object leans on the others to maintain the structure. For King, who felt fear over the current government, these sculptures reflect the strength of a connected community. “Government is abandoning us. What do we have but ourselves to make a social safety net? It’s always been up to us,” King says. “Art doesn’t do anything, but somehow it comes together to make change.”
Both humble and noble, King’s spires stand as a model of the interconnected social forms necessary to create a community.
Laura Van Duren’s work will remain on view at Dream Farm Commons until March 1, 2025 with an artist talk March 15th, while King’s “Vexed Insurrection” will be on display until March 22. For more information, visit the Dream Commons website.
