Into the Dreamscape: Lara Bayer, Clio Giner Yusto, & Jordan Doner @ SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2024
For the 13th edition of SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York, curators Lara Bayer, Clio Giner, and Jordan Doner teamed up to present a booth responding to this year’s theme, “INT./EXT. (Interior/Exterior)” entitled ‘Dreamscape’. Bringing together works by Spanish artists Juanma B Grima and Laura Vinós, and Jordan Doner’s own work, the booth explored the relationship between internal worlds and external realities in the context of cinematic themes.
Fair Co-Founder Andrew Gori and Curator Lara Bayer at SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2024. Photo Courtesy: Samuel Morgan Photography, SPRING/BREAK Art Show New York 2024.
An International Curatorial Collaboration
Lara Bayer, a New York-based curator with roots in Istanbul, having experience in both art fairs and galleries, such as James Cohan, Galerie Perrotin, and Contemporary Istanbul, and Clio Giner, owner of the Yusto/Giner Gallery in Spain, brought their curatorial backgrounds together for this project. Clio specializes in emerging Andalusian artists. Showcasing them around the world, she aims to contextualize their work into a new School of Andalusian Painting that reflects the rich cultural tradition in the region, which has never faltered. Lara, on the other hand, aims to strengthen the bridge between Istanbul and the international art world, currently focusing on New York, through curatorial projects, art fairs, and events. Both graduates of Sotheby’s Institute of Art, they share an interest in creating thoughtful spaces where different artistic perspectives can coexist.
Jordan Doner, who is a multidisciplinary artist alongside his curatorial background, contributed both his own work and a unique sensibility to the curatorial process through his knowledge of the cinematic landscape. Together they have blended the fundamental dualities of the Interior/Exterior cinematic technique with the legacy of Surrealist and Magical-Realist dreamscapes. These have existed at the nexuses of a collapsed interior/exterior, for more than a century, a concept that has evolved parallel to the film industry. They presented a booth that is an articulation of the (perceived) crushing weight of Freudian-Jungian psychology, which warps any possible engagement in the tactile and the immediate - any ability to inhabit the living moment, which is always just out of reach. Their booth concept came together with the works of Juanma B Grima, Laura Vinós and Jordan Doner.
Into the Dreamscape Booth at SPRING/BREAK Art Show 2024. Photo Courtesy: Samuel Morgan Photography, SPRING/BREAK Art Show New York 2024.
Juanma B Grima
Juanma B Grima’s work often incorporates elements from popular culture and art history, with a clear love for surrealist still life and landscapes. His piece, “Mad Macs (Obra en Depósito),” features a large green object embedded in a crater-like setting, surrounded by barren, almost post-apocalyptic terrain. The image is framed in a way that mimics a collectible Magic card, adding a layer of nostalgia and playfulness. Grima’s use of bright colors and graphic elements blends fantasy with a sense of play, making his landscapes feel like moments from a story yet to unfold.
In “Lovefuerte,” Grima zooms in on a figure holding a staff, with a gold bracelet engraved with the word “Mistake” prominently displayed. The close-up composition and rich reds, pinks, and golds give the piece an intense, somewhat surreal feeling, while still retaining a sense of humor. His works often leave space for interpretation, suggesting narratives without fully defining them, and this approach fits well within the theme of internal and external exploration.
Benítez Grima, Untad mi colonia en la nariz del galgo, 2024. Oil on Canvas. Photo Courtesy: Benítez Grima
Benítez Grima, MAD MACS (obra en depósito), 2024. Oil on Canvas. Photo Courtesy: Benítez Grima
Benítez Grima, Lovefuerte, 2024. Oil on Canvas. Photo Courtesy: Benítez Grima
Laura Vinós
Laura Vinós’ works focus on figures, forms, and the spatial relationships between them. In “Simon Says,” two headless figures in school uniforms are positioned within a green, heart-shaped frame. The repeated word "BLAH" is scattered around the canvas, introducing a sense of both playfulness and commentary on communication or perhaps a lack thereof. There’s a deliberate awkwardness in the figures’ positioning, evoking feelings of childhood, identity, and the complexities of language.
Another piece, “Un joven en primavera” shows a small, bear-like figure gazing curiously at the word “VEO” (“I see” in Spanish). The whimsical creature, combined with bold colors, evokes a childlike wonder, but with a sense of unease just beneath the surface. Vinos is skilled at using simple forms and compositions to evoke complex emotions and ideas about perception, identity, and how we see the world. Her work embodies the theme of “INT./EXT.,” with its focus on internal thoughts and external symbols.
Laura Vinós, Simon Says, 2023. Oil on Canvas. Photo Courtesy: Laura Vinós
Laura Vinós, Un joven en primavera, 2023. Oil on Canvas. Photo Courtesy: Laura Vinós
Jordan Doner
Jordan Doner’s works consist of several intricate drawings, which blend the aesthetics of vintage science-fiction with surreal, mythological imagery. Doner has a background of commercial and conceptual photography. His earlier work was concerned with staging and documenting artificial revolutions and utopias. His current work is more intimate in scale, of the hand and is unfolding as a series of “studies.” The work he created specially for the fair’s INT/EXT. theme was “Exploitation Poster Study with Embellishments.” The charcoal study on handmade blue laid paper, examines the multitude of spatial relationships featured in low-budget exploitation posters. In a single space you have concurrent and collapsed narratives, timelines, and scales.
The work “Mid Century Monsters Film Still Study II,” combines elements from old sci-fi film posters with classical anatomical drawings, creating a strange and intriguing juxtaposition. His work often blurs the lines between the heroic and the monstrous, drawing from both high and low culture, and explores the fictional and artificial space of film sets.
The booth featured B-movie soundtracks (rather than the main titles that are too immediately familiar, of late 70s early 80s). Risky Business, Scarface, Bladerunner, Flash Gordon (1980), and LED lights linked and flickered to the beat of the music. Grima’s bold landscapes, Vinós’ fragmented figures, and Doner’s faux old-master drawings contributed to a layered experience that explored the relationship between perception, reality, and the spatial boundaries that both separate and bind them.
SPRING/BREAK Art Show has long been a place for experimentation and collaboration, and we sought to be a fitting contribution to that tradition. As the fair wrapped up, the curators, artists, and visitors alike left with a sense of having been part of something thoughtful, engaging, and, above all, enjoyable. And in a fair as eclectic and lively as SPRING/BREAK, sometimes that’s all you need.
Many thanks to Clio Giner-Yusto and Jordan Doner for their contributions to this article.
Lara Bayer
Contributing Writer, MADE IN BED
