mail form
press contact
Celebrating California as a turbulent, often anarchic center for artistic freedom and experimentation during the 1970s, this major survey exhibition examines the rise of pluralistic art practices across the state. The years 1974 and 1981 bracket a tumultuous, transitional span in United States history, beginning with Richard Nixons resignation and ending with Ronald Reagans inauguration. The exhibition borrows its title from the 1982 album by the Los Angelesbased punk band X to suggest that, during this period, the California Dream and the hippie optimism of the late 1960s had been eclipsed by a sense of disillusionment during the post-Watergate, post-Vietnam era.
The dystopian atmosphere of the 1970s created an artistic milieu that seemed to include everything under the sun. Across the state, competing social and political ideologies and clashing cultural perspectives resulted in heterodox approaches to art-making. The spirit of questioning and experimentation occurring in and beyond the studio took precedence over affiliation with any art-historical group or movement, and a rich dialogue developed between artists in Northern and Southern California in the absence of powerful regional art museums and commercial galleries. California artists, particularly young, recent art school graduates, embraced a DIY attitude that resulted in the hybridization of media and the breaking apart of traditional forms and genres, freely experimenting in their works with painting, sculpture, photography, performance, video, installation, sound, books, and printed matter.
Featuring over 130 artists, Under the Big Black Sun includes over 500 art objects organized by theme, rather than by media, to underline the diverse strategies artists were using to address issues in common such as personal identity; American history, politics, and militarism; ecology and the environment; urban life; mass media and consumerism; and religion and spirituality. The exhibition includes documentary, staged, and conceptual photographs; abstract and representational paintings; freestanding sculptures, installations, and environments; performances and public demonstrations; narrative and documentary films and videos; zines and posters; ceramics and models; works on paper; decorative crafts and design objects; and ephemera.
In hindsight, the pluralism that defined the mid- to late 1970s in the wake of the singular, dominant movements of Pop, Minimalism, Post-Minimalism, and Conceptualism can be seen as one of the most important developments to affect art production. The pioneering California artists featured in this exhibition created new forms by borrowing from old modes and incorporating new materials and technologies, ensuring that what historically had been divided became entangled, with no single style prevailing. Ultimately, what cohered as postmodernism during the 1980s effectively codified ideas and concepts evolving from art made in California by these artists and their peers.
Press Release
Artists:
Bas Jan Ader, Peter dAgostino, Terry Allen , Carlos Almaraz, Eleanor Antin , Robert Arneson , Asco , David Askevold , Judith F. Baca, John Baldessari , Lewis Baltz , Judith Barry , Billy Al Bengston , Tony Berlant , Bob & Bob, Jonathan Borofsky , Ellen Brooks, Joan Brown , Robert E. Brown, Nancy Buchanan , Chris Burden , Carole Caroompas, Karen Carson , Vija Celmins , Juan Cervantes, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Carl Cheng, Judy Chicago , Guy de Cointet , Robert Colescott , Bruce Conner , Eileen Cowin , Robert Cumming , Lowell Darling , Joe Deal , John Divola , D. Evenson , Jim Jocoy, Ricardo Favela, Karen Finley , Fireworks Graphics, Hal Fischer, Judy Fiskin , Robbert Flick , Llyn Foulkes , Terry Fox , Howard Fried , Charles Gaines , Charles Garabedian , Rupert García, JC Garrett, Jim Goldberg , Jack Goldstein , Guillermo Gómez-Peña , Joe Goode , Miles Hamada, Alan Takemoto, , Little Tokyo Art Workshop, David Hammonds, Chauncey Hare, Helen Mayer Harrison , and Newton Harrison, James Hayward , Robert Heinecken, Suzanne Hellmuth , Jock Reynolds, Mel Henderson, Victor Henderson, Roger Herman , Anthony Hernandez , Lynn Hershman , Charles Christopher Hill , Patrick Hogan , Douglas Huebler , Randy Hussong, David Ireland , Richard Jackson , Kim Jones , Stephen J. Kaltenbach, Allan Kaprow , Mike Kelley , The Kipper Kids, Paul Kos and Marlene Kos, Tony Labat , Suzanne Lacy , David Lamelas , Hildegarde Duane, William Leavitt , Fred Lonidier, Yolanda M. Lopez, Linda Lucero , Greg Mac Gregor, Kim MacConnel , Mike Mandel , Larry Sultan , Tom Marioni , Paul McCarthy , Michael C. McMillen , Jim Melchert, John M. Miller, Richard Misrach , Susan Mogul , Linda Montano, Malaquías Montoya, Ed Moses , Matt Mullican , Bruce Nauman , Senga Nengudi , Maria Nordman , Tony Oursler , John Outterbridge , Bill Owens , Gary Panter , Raymond Pettibon , Jim Pomeroy, Red Pepper Posters, Joe Rees and targetvideo77, Peter Reiss, Rachael Romero, Martha Rosler , Nancy Rubins , Allen Ruppersberg , Edward Ruscha, Betye Saar , David Salle , Alan Scarritt, Terry Schoonhoven, Search & Destroy Staff, Herbert Sigüenza, Herbert Sigüenza , Ilene Segalove , Allan Sekula , Allan Sekula , Nöel Burch, Bonnie Ora Sherk, Alexis Smith , Barbara T. Smith , John Sturgeon, Mark Pauline, T. R. Uthco , Ant Farm , Irvin Tepper , Masami Teraoka , Mark Thompson , Jeffrey Vallance , Mark Vallen , Shock Battalion, Carlos Villa, James Welling , Henry Wessel , John M. White, William T.Wiley, Andrew Wilf, Christopher Williams , Bruce & Norman Yonemoto
