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 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.

Exhibition underwriting is generously provided by the M & I Pfister Foundation. Additional support is provided by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture, the Prebys Foundation, and members of the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library.

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.

Annie Alarcón: Forms of Devotion

Exhibition Dates/Fechas de exposición: March 14–May 7, 2026/14 de marzo–7 de mayo de 2026

Opening Reception/Recepción de apertura: Saturday, March 14, 5–8 PM/sábado, 14 de marzo, de 5 a 8 PM

In this exhibition, Annie Alarcón presents a body of ceramic sculptures that move between vessel, body, and offering. Rooted in personal writings, sketches, and ritual practice, the works trace an intimate emotional landscape shaped by memory, grief, and care. Drawing inspiration from ancient Greek perfume bottles, Alarcón treats the vessel as a keeper of the intangible, holding what is invisible, fleeting, and impossible to fully contain. 

Perfume becomes a guiding metaphor: a presence that lingers without form, deeply personal yet shared through ritual. Alarcón’s porcelain sculptures echo this tension. Their translucent surfaces are engraved with fragments of memory and emotion, bearing the marks of a process that is both deliberate and devotional. Some forms stand firmly, others appear precarious, reflecting the unstable ground of emotional experience and the effort required to tend to it. 

Influenced by the teachings of artisan mentors, Alarcón uses traditional ceramic forms as a language through which to explore contemporary inner states. Her vessels do not aim to resolve or stabilize what they hold. Instead, they offer a space for witnessing, for slowing down and acknowledging what we carry. 

Together, these works invite viewers into a quiet encounter with fragility, ritual, and the act of care itself. 

Artist Bio 

Annie Alarcón (born 1985, Ensenada) is a ceramic artist and cultural manager based in Tijuana, Mexico. She is the creative director of Lustre Estudio, a space dedicated to the teaching, production, and dissemination of contemporary ceramics. 

Alongside her artistic practice, Alarcón has played an active role in cultural organizing. She has produced talks, exhibitions, and workshops, and is the founder of the New Wave Ceramic Market, an initiative that has completed eight editions promoting the appreciation and circulation of ceramic work. Since 2022, she has co-created four artist residencies and curated Cerámica Bajacaliforniana (Mexicali, 2024), an exhibition highlighting regional ceramic practices. 

Alarcón’s sculptural work combines traditional ceramic techniques with experimental surface treatments and decorative processes. She was selected for the National Ceramic Award in Tlaquepaque (2022) and has participated in group exhibitions including Invisible Traditions and Vibrante at The Front Arte y Cultura (San Ysidro, 2024). 

In 2025, she took part in the Here and There artist residency, culminating in a solo exhibition at Bread & Salt in San Diego. That same year, her work was included in Dissipation Point, presented during Stockholm Craft Week in Sweden. 

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.