Near Green Valley: Daniel Ribar and Erik Henderson at Galerie Camille

Ashley Cook

August 5, 2025

 

Near Green Valley at Galerie Camille. Floor works by Erik Henderson: Pheasant Run Rd., Balsam Dr., and Timber Ridge Lane, bass wood, screws, acrylic paint, dirt, grass.

 

The cookie cutter bubbles that make up American suburbia can find their culture replicated thousands of times across the country save for a few distinct characteristics that preserve any kind of individuality. This ever-sprawling phenomenon of single-family homes, manicured lawns and car-centric living became synonymous with the American Dream after World War II, ushering residents increasingly further from city centers and limiting the need to interact with customs other than their own. There is naturally a complex and sometimes contentious relationship between the suburbs and the city, with suburbanities—like myself—often humbled by urban life in many ways. Near Green Valley, the collaborative exhibition by Daniel Ribar and Erik Henderson, touches on the eerily sterile reality that is cultivated by such broad standardization, but they also honor the tender nostalgia that comes from growing up in that reality.

 

Erik Henderson, Voyaged, 1:24 scale diecast car, dirt

 

Erik Henderson, and Bri Frey, Stained Glass House 1, leaded glass

 

Erik Henderson, Own Your Own Home!, purchased model kits

 

The collection of works on view perpetuates the Postmodernist embrace of contradiction, which seems appropriate conceptually, given that suburban hometown pride is hit or miss. There is a kind of abandonment that happens in the escape to the city—a break from the past that can actually feel pretty sad. But there is also a nod to Postmodern Art aesthetically, in the variation of mediums at play and in the very close references to artists of that era. Both Ribar and Henderson demonstrate a close attention to domesticity throughout their practice, drawing from familiarity in order to observe or manipulate, similar to artists like the Talking Heads and Haim Steinbach…

 

 

Daniel Ribar, Coventry Gardens, tape, oil, stickers on drywall

 

Daniel Ribar, Backyards, plastic display owls, surveillance camera

 

Daniel Ribar, Stevenson, acrylic on panel, plastic helmets

 

Daniel Ribar, 36 Lawns, Vans, grass, acrylic cube

 

Daniel Ribar, Miles, wooden ping pong table

 

Daniel Ribar, Flooded Garage, assorted items

 

Daniel Ribar, Ramp Study (by dad), graphite on graph paper

 

The comedic and playful staging that has defined Erik Henderson’s work thus far can be found in Voyaged and Own Your Own Home!, but are contrasted by his three floor pieces, which are particularly surreal and melancholic. The beautifully built homes sinking into the ground, titled after specific street names, hint at a dark fantasy inspired perhaps by economic or environmental crises. There is an imaginative quality to appropriation here, as if each of the artists have re-entered the mind of their childhood self, noticing small things and being carried on a mental journey of free-form creation. Daniel Ribar compiles objects of the same color, presents torn drywall as a finished piece, acknowledges the mark-making of fireworks…While there is the established theme throughout the show, the wide array of creative techniques employed by Ribar and Henderson does make me wish there was a tighter edit. For poetry’s sake.

 

Daniel Ribar, Untitled Burn 1, fireworks on acrylic and wood panel

 

Daniel Ribar, Roycroft, archival inkjet print, acrylic prismatic panel

 

Daniel Ribar, Untitled (Bat), wooden baseball bat

 

Daniel Ribar, 19 Tennis Balls, tennis balls

 

Daniel Ribar, Buchanan, Fila soccer ball

 

Near Green Valley was on view at Galerie Camille from July 12 - August 1, 2025.

You can learn more about the artists here:
https://www.danielribar.com/
https://www.erik-henderson.com/

And you can learn more about the gallery here:
https://galeriecamille.com/

Images courtesy of Galerie Camille

 

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