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.
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