The holidays are upon us and even in the glimmering chaos of the spirit, sometimes you just need a moment to step away from the everyday and let your imagination roam free. This weekend, December 13th, Thinkspace Projects throws open its doors to a trio of artists whose work is a vibrant compass pointing to the deep heart of human experience. It will pique every sense so prepare for third eye opening.
Wander through Reen Barrera’s joyful color-coded faces that speak volumes in silence, stand before the quiet, hyperreal gaze of Roos van der Vliet’s muse anchored in rhythmic, emotional time, and feel the profound grace in Raymond Argumedo’s graphic, myth-infused echoes of memory and moments. It’s a night where bold lines and soft reflections celebrate the powerful stories we all carry within us.
If you need another burst of inspiration, Thinkspace Projects also offers a full schedule of events, interviews, and much more to keep you and your creative needs fully immersed. Be sure to follow their blog Sour Harvest to stay updated on all the artsy things you love! With just a few clicks, you can browse through an extensive selection of art. Take a moment and visit Thinkspace Projects’ online store to view all available inventory, created by talented artists from around the world!
Thinkspace Projects Presents
Reen Barrera, Roos van der Vliet & Raymond Argumedo
‘FRESH SERIES: Session Seven’
Opening Reception: Saturday, December 13 from 6-10PM
Exhibition Dates: December 13, 2025 – January 3, 2026
Thinkspace Projects
4217 W. Jefferson Blvd. | Los Angeles, CA 90016
#310.558.3375 | Tues. โ Sat. Noon to 6PM
thinkspaceprojects.com
For all inquiries please contact the gallery via email at contact@thinkspaceprojects.com
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About the Thinkspace Projects //
Thinkspace Projects was founded in 2005; now in LA’s burgeoning West Adams District, the gallery has garnered an international reputation as one of the most active and productive exponents of the New Contemporary Art Movement. Maintaining its founding commitment to the promotion and support of its artists, Thinkspace Projects has steadily expanded its roster and diversified its projects, creating collaborative and institutional opportunities all over the world. Founded in the spirit of forging recognition for young, emerging, and lesser-known talents, the gallery is now home to artists from all over the world, ranging from the emerging, mid-career, and established.
The New Contemporary Art Movement, not unlike its earlier 20th Century counterparts like Surrealism, Dada, or Fauvism, ultimately materialized in search of new forms, content, and expressions that cited rather than disavowed the individual and the social. The earliest incarnations of the Movement, refusing the paradigmatic disinterest of “Art” as an inaccessible garrison of ‘high culture’, championed figuration, surrealism, representation, pop culture, and the subcultural.
By incorporating the ‘lowbrow,’ accessible, and even profane, an exciting and irreverent art movement grew in defiance of the mandated renunciations of “high” art. Emerging on the West Coast in the 90’s partly as a response to the rabid ‘conceptual-turn’ then championed on the East Coasts, the Movement steadily created its own platforms, publications, and spaces for the dissemination of its imagery and ideas.
REEN BARRERA, ‘King In A Mood’
Reen Barrera returns to Thinkspace Projects with his latest solo show, marking his biggest undertaking with our gallery to date. With an array of new works on canvas alongside a new collection of his signature hand made Ohlala sculptures, Barrera has created a show that is light and playful, while brimming with profound meaning and deep emotion.
Barrera states โthe memories, events, and essences that surround our lives that are often ignored are the ones that usually should be given importance. To hold dear with all our might.โ
In line with his previous work, Barrera has taken the idiom โitโs written all over your faceโ to heart and beyond, crafting his work around a central character he created early on in his career as an artist. Ohlala embodies Barreraโs thoughts, displaying them through a variety of colors painted on the beingโs face. This serves as a mechanism to silently communicate, focusing on the unspoken rather than what is loud and clear.
ROOS VAN DER VLIET, ‘Back In The Present Future’
Thinkspace Projects is excited to present Roos van der Vlietโs latest solo show, โBack In The Present Future.โFeaturing an entirely new collection of the hyperrealistic paintings she is known for, there is a piercing energy at the heart of each piece.
Artist Statement:
The title ‘Back in the Present Future’ reflects what I believe weโre capable of as humans: the strange and beautiful ability to be here, in this moment, while also roaming time.To look back, to imagine forward.To exist in memory and possibility at once. Our minds are vast. As vast as the universe. And when I paint, I try to start from that place, from that infinite space of inner time. These paintings are little anchors to pull me back into now. And to offer you the same.
The women I paint, whether friends, strangers or myself, are not performing. Theyโre present and quiet. In a state of non-doing, unapologetic. Theyโre here, and you, the viewer, are allowed to be here too. Painting hair is part of that. Itโs something I return to over and over again, almost obsessively. The repetition calms me. But it also connects me to something larger.
In the flow and layering of hair, I see the same organic rhythms that appear in rivers, branches, lightning, and galaxies, fractal patterns that echo throughout nature and the cosmos. I see those same patterns in the eyes I paint. When you look closely into an iris, itโs like staring into a galaxy. The same structures, the same mystery. Thatโs what draws me in.
Lately, the color Prussian blue began to insist on its presence. First hidden in the underpainting, now increasingly visible on the surface. I didnโt plan for it, it insisted on being there. Blue, for me, has become a space rather than a color, a quiet depth that allows things to breathe. Allowing it in has meant letting go of control, trusting the painting to unfold as it needs to.
RAYMOND ARGUMEDO, ‘Gramercy’
Thinkspace Projects is honored to be hosting the debul solo exhibition from Raymond Argumedo out of Riverside, California. Known for his unique style that incorporates the best elements of the art nouveau movement mashed up with modern day graphic design sensibilities and Mesoarmerican Mythology, resulting in work that has garnered admiration for its clean execution and minimalist aesthetic, which belies the profound depths of emotion and meaning contained within.
The exhibitionโs title, โGramercyโ, itself embodies the essence of gratitude and astonishment. It serves as a poignant reminder that life is a precious gift, to be cherished and celebrated, irrespective of its challenges or triumphs.
โThe work I produced for this show is inspired by my life experiences, feelings and my journey on accepting grief. When I was 10 years old my oldest brother was murdered in front of my childhood home on a street called Gramercy. Itโs been 23 years since thatโs happened and that experience still influences the themes I create in my work.โ
๏ปฟ- Raymond Argumedo
