PACIFIC STANDARD TIME
L.A.RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy

Pasadena Museum of California Art  -  January 21 - May 20, 2012

The figurative artists, who dominated the postwar Los Angeles art scene until the late 1950s, have largely been written out of today’s art history. L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy traces the distinctive aesthetic of figurative expressionism from the end of World War II, bringing together over 120 works by forty-one artists in a variety of media–painting, sculpture, photography and performance. The exhibition places both lesser- and better-known artists in a historical context, giving unique insight into the reactions to World War II and the atomic bomb; to the repressions of the Eisenhower Era; to the fallout of 1960s idealism; and to ongoing racial and gender struggles. The passionate consistency of all the artists--whose work often depicts a boldly honest, stripped-down view of humanity in its rawest, most elemental state--demonstrates the ongoing relevance of expressionism as a primary approach to art making. Curated by Michael Duncan and part of the Getty Foundation’s initiative “Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980,” L.A. RAW: Abject Expressionism in Los Angeles 1945-1980, From Rico Lebrun to Paul McCarthy is accompanied by a 208 page catalogue, a much-needed reference for the study of post-war American figurative art.