Helter Skelter: L.A. Art in the 1990s, featuring works by 16 visual artists and 10 writers from the Los Angeles area, considers the narratives created in the long shadows cast by the harsh Southern California light. The artists span different generations, backgrounds, disciplines, and formal practices, but the works presented—many of which are newly completed projects or installations designed specifically to be sited at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA—share a common vision in which alienation, dispossession, perversity, sex, and violence either dominate the landscape or form disruptive undercurrents.
Organized by MOCA Chief Curator Paul Schimmel, the exhibition includes work by Chris Burden, Meg Cranston, Llyn Foulkes, Victor Estrada, Richard Jackson, Mike Kelley, Liz Larner, Paul McCarthy, Manuel Ocampo, Raymond Pettibon, Lari Pittman, Charles Ray, Nancy Rubins, Jim Shaw, Megan Williams, and Robert Williams. A fully illustrated publication unites the art with fiction and poetry by Los Angeles-based writers Charles Bukowski, Michelle T. Clinton, Dennis Cooper, Harry Gamboa, Jr., Amy Gerstler, Jim Krusoe, Bia Lowe, Rita Valencia, Helena Maria Viramontes, and Benjamin Weissman.
