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Del Vaz Projects is a non-profit art space based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 2014 by Jay Ezra Nayssan in a home-turned-artists space in Santa Monica—and accredited as a 501(c)(3) in 2021—Del Vaz Projects mounts exhibitions, produces publications, and stages programs centering visual art, performance work, and moving-image media. Named after the Persian phrase دست و دلباز (dæst ō del bāz), meaning openhanded and openhearted, our approach is intentional, relational, and resourceful. We collaborate with artists across generations and geographies to manifest projects in our space and throughout our city’s cultural and historical institutions—with each endeavor, infusing diverse environments with a sense of collective intimacy, intellectual inquiry, and expressive invention. 

 

Our space serves as an incubator for artists, archives, and estates and is driven by four essential initiatives: a curatorial platform that produces on-site and off-site exhibitions that are free and accessible to the public; a research collective comprised of fellows and freelancers who pair cutting-edge scholarship with experimental authorship to craft insightful texts for Del Vaz Projects’ shows and publications; an independent press that designs, publishes, and distributes artist books and exhibition catalogs—featuring critical texts commissioned by contemporary writers and cultural innovators; and an artist production fund that secures fiscal and material resources through our extended community of collaborators in order to support underfunded artists as they pursue ambitious projects.


Del Vaz Projects embraces a specificity that does not deny inclusivity—translating those personalized values cultivated from its founding in Nayssan’s Westside apartment to ensure that artists feel the freedom and experimentation of home in any space they occupy. With each project we curate and program, we strive to redefine standards and encourage our partnering institutions to imagine beyond the parameters of their program—devising new ways to adapt their spaces and resources to the aspirations of the artist. Del Vaz Projects remains committed to ensuring that the voices we champion are reflective of a multiracial, economically diverse, international, and LGBTQIA+ inclusive society and, through their work, inspire the intersection of disparate audiences—growing at a thoughtful pace and scale that prioritizes cultural dialogues that are impactful and meaningful to our city.

To obtain a Public Inspection Copy of our 2021, 2022, or 2023 Tax Return, please email info@delvazprojects.com with your request. 

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SUPPORTING INSTITUTIONS

Beyond Baroque, Los Angeles

City of Santa Monica: Arts & Culture

Frieze Art Fair, Los Angeles 

The Getty, PST ART: Art & Science Collide

The Hammer Museum 

Hauser & Wirth, Los Angeles

Hauser & Wirth Publishers, Los Angeles

Looff Hippodrome, Santa Monica

LUMA Foundation, Zurich

Mandorle Productions, Paris

Monday Evening Concerts, Los Angeles 

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

The Performance Project, Los Angeles
REDCAT, Los Angeles
Thomas Mann House, Los Angeles
Villa Aurora, Los Angeles
Virginia Robinson Gardens, Beverly Hills 

ARTIST ESTATES & FOUNDATIONS

Steven Arnold Museum & Archive

Basilisk Communications, Inverness, UK

Keith Collins Will Trust

The Estate of Heidi Bucher

Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts

The Estate of Tetsumi Kudo

The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection
Nicola L. Collection & Archive
The Paulina Peavy Estate 

The Estate of Paul Thek

PARTNERING GALLERIES

Galerie 1900-2000, Paris

The Approach, London

Balice-Hertling, Paris

Friedman Benda, New York

Tanya Bonakdar, Los Angeles

CLEARING, New York 

Commonwealth & Council, Los Angeles

Bridget Donahue, New York 

Felix Gaudlitz, Vienna

Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles

Hannah Hoffman, Los Angeles

Alison Jacques, London

M+B, Los Angeles

Moran Moran, Los Angeles

Moksowitz Bayse, Los Angeles

Green Naftali, New York

Night Gallery, Los Angeles

Marc Selwyn Fine Art, Los Angeles 

Amanda Wilkinson, London

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