The final exhibition in the 'Time & Place' series, which has previously re-contextualized the art and culture of Milano/Torino and Rio de Janeiro in the 20th century, highlights Los Angeles.
Judy Chicago, 'Car Hood', 1964.
Julius Shulman, 'Case Study House Number 22'.
Sun, surf and smog - three words that throw an explanatory light on the explosive development of art in Los Angeles during a few intense years starting in the late 1950s. In the shadow of New York, artists such as Ed Kienholz, David Hockney, Ed Ruscha, Sam Francis, James Turrell and John Baldessari made works that in their unique visuality inspired generation after generation of artists all over the world. In the same era, architects and designers created environments that dissolved the boundaries - between inside and outside, architecture and nature - in a radical, sun-drenched elaboration on the International Style.
The show focuses on the unique oscillation between utopia and dystopia that characterises the creative movement in postwar Los Angeles. The dream of 'sun & surf' and Hollywood happiness is juxtaposed with the exploitation of humans and dreams. This interplay still characterises art today, and Los Angeles artists have taken the stage once more over the recent decade.
Works by Ed Ruscha, David Hockney, Edward Kienholz, Sam Francis and Robert Irwin, along with artists from the Beat generation, and pop minimalists from 'Finish Fetish' circles, will form the natural core of the exhibition, but the concept will also be reflected through films from the period and certainly in architecture. The so-called 'Case Study House Program' will be especially featured, together with the master photographer Julius Shulman's iconic photos of architecture.
The exhibition has been curated by Lars Nittve and will be open until 6 January 2009. 'Time & Place: Los Angeles 1957-1968', is the last in the Time & Place series curated in connection with the 50th anniversary of Moderna Museet.
'TIME AND PLACE: LOS ANGELES, 1957-1968
4 Oct 2008 - 6 Jan 2009
Moderna Museet
Skeppsholmen, Stockholm
T: +46 8 5195 5200
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