Worst-Case Scenarios Revisited

Artists exhibiting at Raid Gallery of Santa Ana are hoping their works are better the second time around. The cutting-edge, contemporary gallery is hosting “Just Short,” a curated show of 11 works by artists given the opportunity to improve on less successful projects.

“We basically got eight artists to select the worst artwork they have ever made, and use it as an inspiration to make another piece,” said Matt Driggs, one of four curators for the show. Driggs, 27, is a board member and helps run the gallery. His live-work studio is behind the gallery.

“Our catch line is ‘Works of art that were originally short in concept now made short of stature,’ ” Driggs said, adding that the concept is pretty loose. “We are all artists, and we’re always looking at improving the art. This is a way to look at a piece that they think was a failure and improve on it.”

The featured artists from Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco and London are Jennifer Burkley, Carlee Fernandez, Aaron Gregory, Yoshimi Hayashi, Damon Hildreth, Peter Lamb, Virgil Polit and Mariah Robertson. Their works include installations, sculptures, paintings, video and interactive multimedia.

Fernandez’s “Lola Isern” is a mutated taxidermic goat with its own utility basket on its back. Virgil Polit’s “Duck Hunt” is an interactive installation equipped with a decoy duck, infrared laser sensors and a hand-held toy gun. The suburban setting includes a picket fence and a garage door mechanism. Activate the garage door and the duck emerges. Shoot the duck and it squirts fake blood.

“The whole things is run by a computer that controls the duck,” said Polit, 19, who has been creating and improving on previous computer-oriented art projects. “I’ve created a simple reaction to a simple action, so participants can be aware of the direct relationship they have on their environment. My generation is the first to grow up with computer and video games. And I’ve lived in suburbia all my life, so I want to represent that artistically with interactive art.”

Also organizing the show are Bob Arieas, Eric Beltz and Adam Rompell. They are part of a four-person, artist-curator team. There are six such teams that allow Raid to turn around new art exhibits monthly. Operating on a shoestring budget, each team member, including Raid’s six board members, pay a nominal fee to cover rent and keep the gallery running smoothly. Driggs and gallery director Max Presneill both have separate jobs to support the gallery. The gallery seldom has enough funds to promote its shows and relies on word-of-mouth.

Just short of its one-year anniversary in the Santa Ana Artists Village, Raid Gallery has decided to leave town. Raid will close its doors at the end of July and relocate to The Brewery Art Complex in Downtown Los Angeles in August.

The $1,500-a-month rent coupled with a new opportunity for growth in Los Angeles are reasons Raid is leaving.

“We will have 6,000 square feet of space in Los Angeles for less money than what we pay here,” said Presneill, 38, of Santa Ana, who also founded the gallery. In Santa Ana, Raid has about 2,000 square feet of space, half of which is used for the gallery. The other half is used as studio and storage space. The new location will allow the gallery size to double.

Raid will soon join the ranks of Orange County galleries in Santa Ana, including Caged Chameleon and Ed Giardina, that gave up trying to stay local. Raid is actually located at the former Ed Giardina Gallery.

At The Brewery, Driggs and Presneill said, a cluster of artists live and work at the complex, creating a supportive network that art critics and patrons are more likely to frequent.

“We think we’ll get more attention in Los Angeles because there are a lot of art critics there who are more likely to review our shows,” Presneill said. “There isn’t any serious magazine and full-time art reviewers here in Orange County and there aren’t as many contemporary art buyers here.”

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Raid has attracted the attention of Art in America critic Michael Duncan, Art Forum’s Chris Miles and Xtra art magazine’s Brad Spence, Presneill said. “But because we’re outside of Los Angeles, we’re off the radar of these art critics.”

Raid Gallery has presented 11 concept-driven shows since it opened in September, drawing crowds averaging 350. Its parent organization is the 2-year-old Raid Projects, another Presneill brainchild. “The idea was to find a system that runs as efficiently as possible to present the highest quality of contemporary art,” Presneill said.

The nonprofit gallery wants to reach an international audience with shows featuring artists from Europe and Asia. Some Raid projects have been funded by arts groups abroad.

“The biggest surprise is that we got a lot more attention from European artists and curators than we have from Orange County,” Presneill said. “I had ambitions for Raid to be an international gallery and we needed a permanent space. I was living in Santa Ana so we decided to work out a system here before we would eventually move to Los Angeles.”

But that opportunity arrived a lot sooner than expected.

“We originally gave ourselves three years to establish our organization,” Presneill said. “We need to be in the thick of the action. We knew at some point that we would eventually need a bigger space and better location.”

* “Just Short,” Raid Gallery, 206 N. Broadway, Santa Ana. Hours: Saturdays, 12-4 p.m. or by appointment. Free. Ends July 28. (714) 836-1176.