Under the Big Black Sun

Los Angeles

Speaking of California coherently leads to think of the Beach Boys and their extolled California dream. Effectively, the dystopian atmosphere of the 1970s also created an artistic milieu that seemed to include everything under the sun. With it’s current exhibition Under the Big Black Sun, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles shows the outcome of competing social and political ideologies and clashing cultural perspectives that result 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. 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. 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. 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.

As the show is only running a few more days, we warmly advise to not miss the chance and get a feeling of the bygone spirit.

The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art

October 1st – February 13th, 2012
152 North Central Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90012
USA

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