Review: Brief but potent memory: ‘And yes, I even remember you’ at Aran Cravey

The group exhibition “And yes, I even remember you” at Aran Cravey purports to look at the various ways in which history is created and preserved — a big topic for a small show.

Curated by Eric Kim, it features mostly sculptural works by five artists: Scott Benzel, Patricia Fernández, Hailey Loman, D’Ette Nogle and Mungo Thomson. Kim’s restraint is commendable — there’s no shortage of artists who deal with these issues — and the exhibition has several high points.

Surprisingly interesting is Thomson’s simple gesture of encasing vintage magazine pages in clear Lucite. As you walk around these miniature monoliths, one side is eerily reflected alongside its opposite. A moment in time — literally the turn of a page — is suspended like a fossil in ice.

The artifacts of Fernández’s long-running personal investigation into migrations between Spain and France after the Spanish Civil War make more sense here on simple tables and shelves than they have in more elaborate installations. The objects — small paintings, souvenirs and texts — have a highly intimate quality that draws one into a mysterious narrative, equal parts history and diary.

Even more fugitive is a statement describing a performance by Nogle, in which she vows to attend every social event on curator Kim’s calendar during the exhibition. It suggests a kind of doubling of memory that could be the foundation of any historical record.

Aran Cravey, 6918 Melrose Ave., L.A., (323) 591-0036, through Aug. 30. Closed Sundays and Mondays. www.arancravey.com