RAID PROJECTS 1998 - 2008

Raid Projects was formed in 1998, in Santa Ana CA, to give a showcase to artists and provide a mix of local, national and international artists a forum to deliver new works, to contextualize their practices and to form lasting interpersonal relationships between artists. Its first shows were held by illegally entering empty buildings and putting on a one night only exhibition, removed at the end of the night and the space left as found. It graduated to a full time gallery space in 1999 after having held The Spurgeon Experience and The Spurgeon Experience II - hosting 106 and 114 artists and co-curated by Max Presneill with Carl Berg and Mike McGee respectively, each artist with a solo show in a separate room in an empty office block, which garnered rave reviews. The gallery held monthly shows, as it did throughout the entire 10 years, for 18 months and then moved to its current location at the Brewery, where Presneill took on all the curatorial duties.

In its 10 years of existence it has established a reputation as one of the foremost venues for seeing new art and was the first venue to discover or present to its LA audience many artists who have gone on to establish successful careers. It was also the premier space for showcasing International art with many shows from UK, Netherlands, Japan, Italy, Germany, Australia and other countries. In support of this International program it also established an Artist In Residency Program, mostly for young artists from abroad, to come to LA and develop a body of work which was then shown in one of the present location's 3 gallery spaces on-site. As a rule this generally meant that the gallery curated 3 shows per month, every month, plus its external shows for galleries and museums elsewhere since its move to LA (an overall total approaching 300 shows during their 10 year run). Another key part of the program was the curating of exhibitions in other spaces worldwide - with a focus on new LA art - in cities such such as London, Istanbul, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Sydney, New York and others.

Raid Projects also supplied a space for young curators worldwide to develop and present their curatorial vision by hosting their projects. This allowed the gallery's schedule to truly present a range of art and content from a large amount of artists previously unknown to the gallery.

Over these last 10 years Raid Projects have shown several artists from the Whitney Biennial (3 in this years alone!!), A couple of dozen who have shown at the Venice Biennale, half a dozen from Documenta, 2 Turner Prize winners as well as many more, now acclaimed, artists.

As one of the few non-commercial venues in LA (with all the staff over the years being volunteers) it has been a mainstay and influential organization upon the LA art scene and is held in high esteem around the world, probably the best known of its type in America. Having fulfilled its mission it will now close while still at the top of its game and at the peak of its powers to allow others to take up the mantle.

RAID PROJECTS OPENING PICS FROM THROUGHOUT THE YEARS


A SAMPLING OF ARTIST SHOWN AT RAID PROJECTS OVER THE YEARS