If You Build It...

We worked all week in the gallery installing the show. It's always so amazing to conceive of something in your head and then watch it come to life before your eyes. It is always different than you originally expected, but somehow (if you're lucky) ends up being true to the original spirit. That's certainly the case with this show. Here's a photo of Rita Ackermann hard at work on her wall painting. This thing was incredible!! Not only did she paint these amazing images on the wall, but she also incorporated overhead projections, a zebra fabric curatin and a giant leaning canvas into the mix. The end result was a three dimensional world that brought her images to life in a very theatrical way! (I don't have photos of the finished thing right now, but I'll post when I get them).

Above: a detail of Rita's wall painting in progress.
For those of you who don't know, Gee Vaucher is, she's responsible for all that incredible art that revolved around the band CRASS in the 1980's. She's in her sixties now, and still doing incredible stuff. Tracking her down for this was like a dream come true. If you don't know who crass are, this is their logo. Ring any bells??

Anyway. When I was 14, and first heard CRASS and saw their album art (and booklets and fold out posters) all of which were done my Gee Vaucher my life was totally changed. I wanted to kill my parents and run away to the crass commune in England (where Gee Vaucher still lives!!). So on Friday, this crate arrives from London full of her art for the show and the first thing I pull out is the collage pictured below. It's from 1981 and is the original art for a poster I've looked at thousands of times. The thing was wrapped in some of the oldest bubble wrap I've ever seen, It seemed like it hadn't been pulled out since the 80's. This might sound strange, but the piece smelled punk. There was this musty, depressed feeling about it. Like a time capsule, you could just feel the depression and rebellion of Thatcher-era Britian in the wood and glass and paper. The thing felt dangerous. It is framed behind glass, so my flash kept reflecting, but yu can get an idea here of what's going on. It's serious.


This is one of Gusmano Cesaretti's photos of east Los Angeles in 1973. There are 15 from this series hanging in the show. This is one of my favorites. Back in the day he used to run around with all these young Chicano kids doing graffiti and getting into trouble. These photos, which come from a series called "streetwriters" haven't been seen in over 20 years. This is just a snapshot. the actual prints are a thousand times more powerful. No Age played the opening last night, but I don't have any photos yet. If any good ones turn out I'll post them. Have a nice week.