WAIT GAIN

Dab Art Co. presented WAIT GAIN, a curated exhibition honoring artists from the gallery's 2021 waitlist—creators whose compelling works deserved visibility beyond the limits of regular in-person programming. Staged at the Main Street Gallery in downtown Los Angeles, this thoughtfully assembled exhibition offered a unique platform for discovery, bringing together a diverse range of media and conceptual approaches that had been waiting in the wings for their moment of recognition.

Among the featured works was Arnaud Quercy's striking piece Free Will, part of his ongoing conceptual series Research on Tensions. Rendered as a UV print on aluminum Dibond and mounted on MDF panel, the composition embodies a philosophical exploration grounded in Baruch Spinoza's metaphysical vision. The work's abstract geometries and luminous spatial tension evoke the interplay between apparent freedom and underlying deterministic structure—questioning the very nature of autonomous action through sculptural illusion and digital construction.

Free Will draws its conceptual framework from Spinoza's assertion that human free will is a mere illusion—rooted in awareness of actions but ignorance of their causes. Quercy visualizes these deterministic threads binding existence through precise digital construction, where every geometric form operates as both a deliberate choice and an inescapable constraint. The composition's layered depth and tonal gradations suggest hidden forces operating beneath the surface of perceived reality, challenging viewers to reconsider the nature of volition itself.

The exhibition's title, WAIT GAIN, speaks to the paradox at the heart of the curatorial concept: artists who had been held in suspension now emerged with works that had only deepened in resonance during their period of waiting. Dab Art Co.'s commitment to these overlooked voices created a space for thoughtful engagement, where audiences could encounter work that had been given time to mature rather than being rushed to market. The result was an exhibition that privileged depth over immediacy, reflection over spectacle.

Artist Statement

This body of work emerged from an ongoing engagement with Baruch Spinoza's metaphysical propositions, particularly his radical challenge to the concept of free will. Spinoza argued that we are conscious of our actions but ignorant of the causes that determine them—and it is precisely this ignorance that generates the illusion of freedom.

In Free Will, I sought to give visual form to this philosophical paradox. Each geometric element in the composition operates simultaneously as a deliberate formal decision and an inevitable constraint. The layered spatial tensions, the interplay of light and shadow, the architectonic structures emerging from and dissolving into atmospheric depth—all of these suggest a world where apparent autonomy masks deeper determining forces.

"Man is not an empire within an empire," Spinoza reminds us, "but a fragment of the infinite substance—God or nature itself." The work invites contemplation of our place within this infinite whole, where what we perceive as choice may be merely the visible surface of unseen causes rippling through the fabric of existence.

Logistics

The exhibition ran from March 5 through June 5, 2022, at Dab Art Co. Main Street Gallery, located at 334 S. Main St., #5001 in downtown Los Angeles. Opening hours were Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Admission was free. For inquiries, contact Yessica Torres at (213) 260-0556 or visit

. Contact the gallery directly for accessibility information.