Many of you who will attend MOCA’s concert featuring X, the Dead Kennedys, and the Avengers on Saturday likely experienced, as participants or witnesses, the germination of the punk scene in Los Angeles. Photographer Gary Leonard was there, too, capturing the musicians, artists, raucous club scenes, seminal concerts, and late nights that turned into mornings. Leonard’s lifework is recording the story of Los Angeles, and while he was passionate about punk, his interest in the scene was driven by his love for the city. “I was talking about Los Angeles,“ he says. “I was moved to document it as much because of the music as anything else, but it has always been about Los Angeles. I have this connection to this city. I was born here, I was raised here, I stayed here. I don’t have any interest in being anywhere else. If I’m away, I’m thinking, how is this different from Los Angeles?“ His archives provide a timeline for the rise of punk in L.A.—there are images of Exene Cervenka in Tijuana for Top Jimmy’s wedding, Keith Haring painting models at Power Tools in downtown L.A. for Richard Duardo, Raymond Pettibon at Eddie Nash’s West Hollywood club, The Starwood, John Doe playing with Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs at Al’s Bar downtown.

READ THE REST OF THIS POST, AND SEE A GALLERY OF GARY LEONARD’S PHOTOS FROM L.A.’S PUNK SCENE AT The Curve>>

Listen to MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel speak on the expansive view of art in politics on view at Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-1981

Paul Schimmel will be leading a walkthrough of the exhibition on Thursday, January 26 at 6:30pm. The event is free, no reservations required.

Linda Montano, Stills from Mitchell’s Death, 1977

In this video, performance artist Linda Montano mourns the sudden tragic death of her ex-husband Mitchell. The artist recounts her experience of his death in a monotone chant reminiscent of Buddhist meditative practices while slowly piercing her face with acupuncture needles an a ritualized act of mourning.

MOCA’S MEMBERS-ONLY PUNK CONCERT NOW OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 28; DOORS AT 6:30PM, SHOW AT 7:30PM
THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA

In conjunction with Under the Big Black Sun: 1974–1981, join us for one of the culminating events of The Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival—an exclusive concert with three seminal punk rock bands that continue to shape California’s music scene.

SOLD OUT

Visit us at:
MOCA Grand Avenue
250 S. Grand Ave, LA 90012;

and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA
152 N. Central Ave, LA 90012.

BOX OFFICE HOURS:
MON, 11am-5pm; TUES & WED, CLOSED; THURS, 11am-8pm; FRI, 11am-5pm; SAT & SUN, 11am-6pm.

Not yet a MOCA member? JOIN TODAY
Ticket Prices: $35 Admission, $100 VIP
Non-Member Ticket Prices: $50 General Admission, $120 VIP

A leading figure of New Expressionist painting in Los Angeles, Andrew Wilf had a short but influential artistic career. His technique of applying heavily built-up coats of acrylic and wax lends an air of violence to his still-lifes of butchered meat. Residing in a downtown Los Angeles artist loft across from Grand Central Market, Wilf had a direct view onto daily scenes of carnage: bloody parts of cows, sheep, and other animals for sale and the economy of separating the choice cuts from offal and cast-offs.

Los Angeles artist Jeffrey Vallance is known for his object-making, installations, writings, performances, and Blinky, The Friendly Hen. Join him for a discussion of his work in the context of Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974–1981.

THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA
Sunday October 30, 2011
3pm

Mark Pauline of Survival Research Laboratories demos the De-Manufacturing Machine, 1979, on the opening night of Under The Big Black Sun.

A photographer who rarely used a camera, Robert Heinecken made extensive use of appropriated imagery. He was interested in the context in which we perceive the world, in particular exploring American popular obsessions with subjects like sex, food, and war. Pulling together images from mass-media sources like magazines and television, Heinecken reprinted them in various media including lithographs, etchings, photograms, emulsions on canvas, and Polaroid prints. Heinecken coined the term “videogram” when he made these color photographs by placing a piece of photographic printing paper directly on a television screen. These images are from the televised gala celebration prior to President Ronald Reagan’s inauguration, the inauguration itself, and Reagan’s inaugural address.

In advance of their Art Talks, MOCA has asked the artists of Under The Big Black Sun to reflect on living and working in California from 1974-1981. Join San Bernardino-born artist Kim Jones for a discussion of his work in the context of Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974–1981.

ART TALK WITH KIM JONES
Sunday October 16, 2011
3pm
THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY AT MOCA

MOCA: When you think of the years 1974–1981, what imagery comes to mind?

Kim Jones: Judy, Lorna, Roberta, Ellen, Kathy (no, actually Kathy was before Judy), Nancy, Donna, Betsy, and one woman that I didn’t have sex with. A friend asked if the woman could stay over in my apartment. She flopped on the couch and lay on her side. Staring at me, she laughed for hours. I kept an eye on her all night.

MOCA: What/who were some of your most memorable influences during this period?

KJ: Blowing up model airplanes with Chris Burden, on his studio roof on the boardwalk in Venice. Wilshire Boulevard Walk performance: Drinking whiskey on the street with Bruce Nauman at 11 p.m. Gemini G.E.L on Melrose, where I worked as a nighttime janitor.

MOCA: What was life like in Southern California in the 1970s?

KJ: Easy.

This selection from Peter Reiss’s series of photographs titled Severely and Profoundly Retarded Individuals depicts residents of the Mount Vernon State Hospital and Heinzerling Children’s Institute, both in Ohio. While a college and graduate student, Reiss volunteered at these institutions and got to know his subjects and their families before selecting them to be photographed. Focused on the human body, these raw photographs portray the pain of those afflicted with acute illnesses or disabilities. Reiss himself had suffered a stroke at age twenty-two that left him seriously handicapped. Feeling a kinship for his subjects, the artist sought to make visible a group of individuals often shunned from public view.

LISTEN to Peter Reiss describe why he made these “portraits of people that have fallen through the cracks, and don’t have voices loud enough to be heard.”