Dar(r)en Bader

Exhibition Dates: January 24–April 25, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, January 23, 5:30–7:30 PM

Artist Talk: Friday, January 23, 5:30 PM

People sometimes have the same name. As an imperfect example of this phenomenon, this upcoming exhibition will pair two Baders: Daren and Darren. The two have never met in person but have been in contact—on and off—since 2013. Both have intimate relationships to San Diego and art making. This exhibition will bring about their first in-person meeting and a co-curated confluence of contrasting approaches to crafting art.

Daren Bader born in Monterey County, California, in 1966, has been a concept artist and art director for the video game and entertainment industry for 30 years, working with a large variety of companies, including Disney, Nintendo, Capcom, Rockstar Games, and Magic Leap. He is best known as the Art Director on the critically acclaimed Red Dead Redemption franchise. Currently, Daren is the Art Director for Secret Door Games, which recently released its first game Sunderfolk to much critical acclaim.

On the weekends, Daren is a freelance illustrator for various trading card games, such as Magic: The Gathering and World of Warcraft, amassing well over 200 cards in the field. He has also designed the occasional book cover, including a series of covers for fan-favorite authors R.A. Salvatore and Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan and John Carter of Mars.

Daren's work can be seen in 15 of the 22 Spectrum Fantastic Art annuals, as well as in his monographs The Art of Daren Bader and one hundred drawings. The summer of 2015 saw the release of his 60-page, fully painted graphic novel Tribes of Kai from Flesk Publications. His work was recently acquired by the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. Daren lives in Encinitas, California.

Darren Bader was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1978. Two years later his family moved to Mission Hills in San Diego. His first memories are of/in San Diego; a year after those memories, his sister was born there. His family moved back to Connecticut in 1983 for public schooling and free childcare (grandparents). Darren now lives in New York.

In 2004, thanks to a pre-ad Google search, Darren learned there was another Dar(r)en Bader. A decade later, via Facebook, he reached out to Daren—whom he was elated and relieved to learn was already aware of him—with a stupidly ambitious proposal for collaboration. Seven years later, he reached out again in hope of a less ambitious collaboration, but various obstacles presented themselves. After another fallow period, Darren realized that San Diego might not just be a chance confluence, but a means to a much-desired end—i.e., the meeting in real space of two artists who share a name—the redundant “r” being a formality/aberration/nuisance. 

Between 2004 and 2025, Darren Bader built an unlikely career in the visual arts. Having no technical aptitude, he somehow managed to employ his arguable facility with written language toward the ultimate purpose of engaging with the rigors and vagaries of art historical logics. Some in the contemporary art field/milieu consider him to be a hack/charlatan/nuisance; others consider him a useful voice. All he cares about at the moment (apart from being a passable parent) is doing right by Daren Bader. 

Darren Bader’s work is included in the collections of Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Marciano Art Foundation, Los Angeles; Zabludowicz Collection, London; K11 Art Foundation, Hong Kong; Fondazione Prada, Milan; and Chicago Booth School of Business Art Collection, Chicago.

Please join us for an artist talk with Daren Bader and Darren Bader at 5:30pm. An opening reception will take place after the artist talk.

The exhibition can be viewed in the Joseph Clayes III Gallery at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, CA 92037) during open hours, Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Appointments are not required.

Selections from the Athenaeum’s Erika & Fred Torri Artists’ Books Collection

Exhibition Dates: January 24–April 25, 2026

Opening Reception: Friday, January 23, 5:30–7:30 PM

A selection of artists’ books on the environment in the Athenaeum’s Erika & Fred Torri Artists’ Books Collection will be showcased in the Max & Melissa Elliott North Reading Room.

About the Athenaeum’s Erika & Fred Torri Artists’ Books Collection

The Athenaeum’s artists’ books collection was initiated in 1991 when Joan & Irwin Jacobs Executive Director Emeritus Erika Torri received a generous donation from life member Hope Shipley with the advice “to use it for her dreams.” Artists’ books have been Torri’s passion for many years prior and it seemed a natural fit for the Athenaeum. She purchased Harry Sternberg’s limited edition A Life in Woodcuts, published by Brighton Press, and thus the collection was launched. The mission of the collection was established with a focus on regional artists and presses and on artists who emphasized art and/or music in their works. The collection has grown enormously through purchases, sponsored acquisitions, and generous donations—now numbering close to 2,200 books—and so has its reputation. It is sought out by artists, researchers and collectors and can be viewed by making an appointment with library staff.

The exhibition can be viewed in the Max & Melissa Elliott North Reading Room at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library (1008 Wall Street, La Jolla, CA 92037) during open hours, Tuesday through Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Appointments are not required.

Jonathan Paul Parker: All Shall Be Well

Exhibition Dates/Fechas de exposición: January 10–March 7, 2026/10 de enero–7 de marzo de 2026

Opening Reception/Recepción de apertura: Saturday, January 10, 5–8 PM/sábado, 10 de enero, de 5 a 8 PM

The Athenaeum Art Center presents All Shall Be Well, Jonathan Paul Parker’s first solo exhibition, on view January 10–March 7, 2026. Featuring paintings and explorative drawings, Parker’s practice centers on an intuitive, process-based approach to painting that explores the threshold between perception and inner experience. Using color, gesture, and rhythm, he works in a state of focused openness that allows intuitive and archetypal forms to surface. His process draws on the idea of active imagination, where inner images and impulses rise to awareness and shape the direction of the work.  

Parker’s background in drawing gave him a strong sensitivity to line, rhythm, and spatial balance, which continues to guide his approach to painting. He treats the canvas as something that reveals itself gradually, with each gesture arising from quiet attention.  

His early involvement in experimental film and improvisational music also informs his sense of timing and movement. A mark can function like a note, and a composition can unfold like a score.  

Through this practice, Parker creates paintings that offer a reflective space where perception and inner experience meet.  

Jonathan Paul Parker lives and works in San Diego. Raised across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Georgia, and California, his itinerant upbringing informs a sustained sensitivity to narrative, rhythm, and spatial awareness. His early interest in drawing and visual structure developed alongside an engagement with moving images, leading him to study film at the California State Summer School of the Arts before completing formal training in Live Action Film and Video at the California Institute of the Arts.

Drawing from decades of playing improvisational music, Parker’s painterly process is grounded in repetition, variation, and attentive presence. His work reflects an ongoing investigation into line, duration, and image-making, shaped by meditative and transcendental approaches to perception and time. Across media, Parker’s practice explores how intuition, structure, and temporality converge within the act of making. 

This exhibition marks the first public presentation of Parker’s work and brings together works produced between 2018 and 2025.

El Athenaeum Art Center presenta All Shall Be Well, la primera exposición individual de Jonathan Paul Parker, que estará abierta al público del 10 de enero al 7 de marzo de 2026. Con pinturas y dibujos exploratorios, la práctica de Parker se centra en un enfoque intuitivo y basado en el proceso de la pintura, que explora el umbral entre la percepción y la experiencia interior. Utilizando el color, el gesto y el ritmo, trabaja en un estado de apertura concentrada que permite que afloren formas intuitivas y arquetípicas. Su proceso se basa en la idea de la imaginación activa, donde las imágenes e impulsos internos emergen a la conciencia y dan forma a la dirección de la obra. 

La formación de Parker en dibujo le proporcionó una gran sensibilidad para la línea, el ritmo y el equilibrio espacial, que continúa guiando su enfoque de la pintura. Trata el lienzo como algo que se revela gradualmente, con cada gesto surgiendo de una atención serena. 

Su participación temprana en el cine experimental y la música de improvisación también influye en su sentido del ritmo y el movimiento. Una marca puede funcionar como una nota, y una composición puede desarrollarse como una partitura. 

A través de esta práctica, Parker crea pinturas que ofrecen un espacio de reflexión donde se encuentran la percepción y la experiencia interior. 

The exhibition can be viewed in the Catherine and Robert Palmer Gallery at the Athenaeum Art Center (1955 Julian Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113) during open gallery hours, Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and every second Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m., during the Barrio Art Crawl, and by appointment.

La exposición se puede ver en la Galería Catherine y Robert Palmer en el Centro de Arte Athenaeum (1955 Julian Avenue, San Diego, CA 92113) durante el horario de atención de la galería, de martes a sábado, de 11 a. m. a 4 p. m., y cada segundo sábado de 5 a 8 p.m., durante el Barrio Art Crawl, y con cita previa.