GALLERY
Founded in 2011, Dama Gallery is an independent contemporary art gallery built on curatorial rigor, artist advocacy, and a belief that great art comes first. What began in Ventura, California, has evolved over more than fifteen years into a multifaceted contemporary art platform with locations in Los Angeles and Texas and a history of international programming in Mexico City. Across its history, Dama Gallery has presented hundreds of exhibitions and worked with artists at every stage of their careers, from emerging voices to established and internationally collected artists. The gallery’s “art first” objective is guided by a commitment to technical mastery, conceptual depth, emotional resonance, and work capable of sustaining a meaningful relationship with its audience over time.
While exhibitions remain at the center of Dama Gallery’s practice, the gallery has expanded its role within the contemporary art ecosystem through artist representation, art advisory, collection development, publications, educational initiatives, and original media. Its approach is intentionally personal: artists are known beyond their wall labels, collectors are given meaningful context around the work, and every acquisition is treated as an opportunity to build a lasting relationship between artist and collector.
Dama Gallery’s media initiatives extend that philosophy beyond the gallery itself. The Gallery Hangover Podcast, hosted by founder Yessíca Torres and produced by Torres long time friend and creative collaborator Rodrigo Aguilar, offers candid conversations with artists, collectors, and creative professionals about the realities of making, exhibiting, and collecting contemporary art. The podcast is IMDb-credited, further establishing Dama’s expanding presence across the broader media and entertainment landscape.
The gallery has also produced a growing body of short films, artist interviews, and studio features documenting the people and processes behind contemporary art. These projects offer audiences a more intimate understanding of artistic practice while creating additional points of connection between artists, their work, and potential collectors.
Today, Dama Gallery continues to operate as an independent gallery with the standards and ambition of a much larger institution. Its pursuit is straightforward: to identify exceptional artists, present their work with intention, cultivate meaningful collector relationships, and create a lasting environment in which contemporary art can be experienced, understood, and collected.
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
Gallery Association of Los Angeles
Dama Gallery is a member of the Gallery Association of Los Angeles (GA(LA), an established association representing some of the most respected and influential names in the Los Angeles contemporary art world. GA(LA)’s leadership draws directly from the galleries steering both the association and the city’s art scene, among them Gagosian, David Zwirner, Regen Projects, David Kordansky, Night Gallery, Make Room, Luis De Jesus Los Angeles, and Christie’s. GA(LA) is the organization behind GalleryPlatform.LA, the definitive source for exhibition listings, event information, and original editorial coverage of the Los Angeles gallery scene. Now a participating gallery, alongside institutions like LACMA, The Broad, the Hammer Museum, and MOCA; Dama Gallery joins a respected network of institutions shaping the backbone of the Los Angeles art ecosystem
DTLA ArtNight
Dama Gallery has proudly been a member of DTLA ArtNight since its inception in 2023, when a handful of galleries in the Historic Core first agreed to open their doors together and keep the lights on late. What began as a single-night gathering along Gallery Row has since grown into one of the city’s defining cultural events, now spanning 50 destinations across three neighborhoods, connected by a free trolley and a shared map, drawing Angelenos out for a free, walkable night of art each month. Located on Main Street in the heart of Gallery Row, Dama Gallery remains part of the Historic Core, the neighborhood where it all started, alongside landmarks like the Bradbury Building and the Spring Arcade.
GALLERY DIRECTOR
Yessíca Torres is a gallery owner, curator, art advisor, filmmaker, and creative entrepreneur whose relationship with the art world began long before she entered it professionally.
Torres grew up surrounded by artists and the business of art through her grandmother, who operated a gallery for nearly three decades. As a teenager, she would “volunteer,” as her grandmother called it, helping prepare info for upcoming exhibitions and auctions, gallery resets, and ready the space for visiting hours. It was an early education in the realities of the art business and one that would ultimately shape the gallery owner she became.
Over the course of her 15 year career as a gallery owner, Torres has curated nearly 300 exhibitions and worked with more than 1,000 artists, developing a reputation for discovering compelling talent and creating opportunities for artists to reach new audiences and collectors. Her work has expanded beyond traditional gallery programming into artist representation, art advisory, film, publishing, and original media.
Her podcast, The Gallery Hangover; now entering it’s fourth season, has featured conversations with artists, filmmakers, creative collaborators, art collectors, athletes, and other figures whose careers intersect with the creative world.
Torres approaches the art business with both an instinctive understanding of artists and the practical perspective of someone who has spent years building an independent network of galleries. For her, the artwork is always the starting point, but the relationships surrounding it are what allow an artist’s career to flourish, and turn buyers into career collectors.
