EXHIBITION: Claire A. Warden
Mimesis
CLAIRE A. WARDEN
Friday, January 9, 2026 – Saturday, February 21, 2026
FIRST FRIDAY ART WALK | Friday, February 6, 5-8pm
Not Basic Color Theory, 2016. Pigment print (piezo), 36 x 28 inches, 40 x 32 inches framed. Edition #1 of 12. $2200 framed.
Candela is excited to begin the 2026 calendar year with two solo exhibitions using process to explore ideas of contemporary humanity.
In the back gallery, Phoenix-based Claire A. Warden’s Mimesis reframes the urge to ask “what am I looking at?” within a larger context of ethnic identity. The large, monochromatic alternative process works blur the lines of photography, inviting the viewer to question their experience:
Reflecting on the perception and presentation of identity informs my approach to photography. I spit on and manually manipulate silver halides in the photographic negative as a representation of the inherent natural and cultural forces in a self-aware and conscious existence. This process produces an image that reveals a certain truth in identity and its inadequacies in language. The abstractions resembling systems of the natural sciences—microscopic, topographic and celestial—allegorizes the complexity of systems that make up an individual and the perception of oneself.
Mimesis spills into the small back room with a projected video piece by Warden.
Mimesis
ARTIST TALK | TBD
Doors at 6pm, talk kicks off at 6:30pm