Edward Ruscha, Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, 1963, Öl auf Leinwand, 163,8 x 309,2 cm, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, Geschenk von James J. Meeker, Klasse von 1958, in Erinnerung an Lee English, © Edward Ruscha.

Kenneth Anger, Kustom Kar Kommandos, 1965, 16mm, Film auf DVD, Farbe, Ton, 3’30’’, Courtesy Canyon Cinema, San Francisco, © Kenneth Anger.

Billy Al Bengston, Buster, 1962, Öl und Spraylack auf Masonit, 154,4 x 152,4 cm, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Musum purchase, dedicated in 2002, In honour of Thomas S. Tibbs, Director of the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art from 1968 to 1972, © Billy Al Bengston.

Moderna Museet
Skeppsholmen
+ 46 8 5195 5200
Stockholm
Time & Place:
Los Angeles 1957-1968
October 4, 2008-January 6, 2009

Time & Place: Los Angeles 1957-1968 focuses on the oscillation from utopia and dystopia that made the creative movement in postwar Los Angeles. The dream of “sun & surf” and Hollywood happiness is juxtaposed with the exploitation of human 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, form the core of the exhibition, but the concept is also reflected through films from the period and in architecture. The so-called Case Study House Program is especially featured, together with the master photographer Julius Shulman’s iconic photos of architecture.

Moderna Museet was created, and forged an identity, with one foot in New York and the other in Paris. And for many years, it seemed as though art from around 1960 appeared to be entirely shaped by those two cities. In hindsight, however, it is obvious that other “creative pockets” arose in entirely different places, with just as radical artistic projects. In connection with Moderna Museet’s 50th Anniversary in 2008, three exhibitions focus on three such places around the world: Rio de Janeiro, Milan/Turin and Los Angeles. The idea is to explore the period when Moderna Museet was created from an international perspective, by featuring a representative selection of works of art, architecture, design, literature, film and music never before shown together in Sweden.

Three separate catalogues were produced for the Time & Place exhibitions by Steidl publishers.

Exhibition curator is Lars Nittve.

Billy Al Bengston.

Judy Chicago, Car Hood, 1964, © Judy Chicago/BUS 2007.