Skip to Content
Art

Preview: Robert Williams “SLANG Aesthetics!” ~ Opens this Weekend

Juxtapoz_March_Robert Williams_ad 2

This weekend, as part of the Juxtapoz Magazine 20th anniversary party and art show, the founder of Juxtapoz will be showing a new exhibition of work. A self-described conceptual realist, Williams is considered the godfather of the low brow art movement. This is his first show in LA for over a decade. Keep reading for a preview of some of the images that will be on display, along with more info on the show...

Williams_Death By Exasperation_SMALL
Williams_Decline of Sophistication-1
Williams_Decline of Sophistication
Williams_The Everywhere at Once Cabriolet_small
Williams-Pathos in Paper-Mache

The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and Juxtapoz magazine are pleased to present new works by Robert Williams in SLANG Aesthetics! in conjunction with 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz, a group exhibition curated by Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace Gallery and Gary Pressman of Copro Gallery. On view at DCA’s Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park from February 22 to April 19, 2015, the exhibitions commemorate the 20th anniversary of Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine, founded by Williams in 1994, and its vast influence on several generations of artists.

Juxtapoz magazine allowed Robert Williams to create a platform for this young and insurgent energy on the West Coast and, with its unprecedented success, Williams became widely upheld as the godfather of the lowbrow and pop surrealist art movements. His first major body of work to debut in Los Angeles in well over a decade, SLANG! Aesthetics will feature 25 new oil paintings by the artist alongside a suite of drawings and a series of large-scale sculptures fabricated with the assistance of Gentle Giant Studios.

As both patriarch and outlaw, his enduring influence on the New Contemporary crusade is undeniable. A true maverick, Williams sought to create vital work that channeled the shifting energies and immediacy of counterculture. From the 60’s onward, his paintings invoked a return to craftsmanship, figuration and demotic imagery that rejected the tenets of conceptual minimalism.

Robert Williams says: “My art is of a feral nature and fashionably in excess of an academic definition, so where better to showcase it than LAMAG, which, as the country’s last municipal art gallery, remains vigilant in its efforts to ensure art in all its forms is accessible to all.”

A self-described Conceptual Realist, Williams persists in creating artworks that elicit a reaction, which cuts, seethes, confronts, and moves. Not for the faint of heart, he speaks an unruly truth that captures the dark, the beautiful, and the appalling tenor of our modern world.

In conjunction with Robert Williams’ new exhibition of work, 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz celebrates the magazine’s 20th anniversary. What once began as an alternative magazine, Juxtapoz is now the most widely disseminated art publication in the world. Predicated on the rejection of the artificial boundaries that kept “high” art removed from popular culture, Juxtapoz effectively broke down those walls to allow young artists a chance at their own history.

The magazine has helped to define and bring to light one of the most exciting art movements of our time, an incipient undertaking in 1994 that has now, finally 20 years later, begun to infiltrate the mainstream art markets and institutions from which it had once been excluded. It is also a movement with a massive fan following that attests to the power and relevance of making accessible art about shared cultural experiences, identities, and aesthetics. The artists featured in 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz have been selected based on their cultural impact and on how they themselves have been inspired by Juxtapoz. New and multifaceted generations of artists continue to emerge through the access made possible by the prestigious publication, which has shaped and defined the culture itself, ensuring its continued relevance for years to come.

The SLANG Aesthetics! and 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz exhibitions will open to the public on February 22. The robust roster of related programming includes a talk with Robert Williams on Saturday, February 28 at 2:00 p.m., a curator’s talk on Saturday, March 14 at 2:00 p.m., and a book signing for Williams’ new book with Baby Tattoo on Saturday, March 28 at 2:00 p.m.

The exhibitions are sponsored by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA);
the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG), the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery
Associates (LAMAGA), and the Barnsdall Art Park Foundation.

Robert Williams: SLANG Aesthetics! and 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz

VIP Preview Reception: Saturday, February 21 from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m.

Public Opening: Sunday, February 22 from 12:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Exhibition Dates: February 22 to April 19, 2015

Time: Thursday through Sunday, noon to 5:00 p.m.; First Fridays, noon to 9 p.m.

Location: Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery at Barnsdall Park
4800 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90027

Admission: FREE

###

About the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs

The Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) generates and supports high quality arts and cultural experiences for Los Angeles’ 4 million residents and 40 million annual overnight and day visitors.
DCA advances the social and economic impact of the arts and ensures access to diverse and
enriching cultural activities through: grant making, marketing, development, public art, community
arts programming, arts education, and building partnerships with artists and arts and cultural organizations in neighborhoods throughout the City of Los Angeles.

About the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery

LAMAG is the flagship exhibition space DCA. LAMAG showcases the work of emerging, mid-career,
and established artists whose contributions enhance the culture of the city and help make creativity
LA’s number one economic engine. The Gallery’s reputation for supporting Los Angeles artists and cultural communities through its exhibitions is unparalleled. The original gallery, a temporary structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, was built in 1954. The current 10,000 square foot gallery opened in 1971, presenting and interpreting successive waves of artists and movements. Today, exhibitions of contemporary art are developed by DCA’s curatorial staff and with invited guest curators. For over
fifteen years, LAMAG has premiered the artwork of the recipients of DCA’s annual City of Los Angeles (C.O.L.A.) Individual Artist Fellowships and has collaborated with important arts and cultural institutions

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

After Leaving Mírate and Nearly Dying of Cancer, Chef Josh Gil Is Bringing Back His Underground Supper Liberation Front Dinners

The Supper Liberation Front is considered to be one of the first pop-ups in L.A. and Mexico's dining scenes, starting in a punk squat house in Riverside in 2009. After fighting cancer for two years, the pioneering chef who refined his style working in Baja fine dining restaurants is excited to get back to his anarcho-punk DIY cooking roots.

December 10, 2024

La Virgen de Guadalupe’s Image Has No Borders, a Reminder of L.A.’s Latinidad

From Mexico to Los Angeles, La Virgen de Guadalupe has no borders. Her image can be found anywhere from corner markets to food trucks is a constant reminder that Latinos are presente (here).  

December 9, 2024

This Weekend: New Carnitas in SELA, Black Dough Pizza in Altadena, Indoor Mini Golf and Bathtub Gin in Santa Monica

You can drink cocktails from a toy bathtub while playing mini-golf, before you get your black dough pizza at a Black-owned pizza pop-up.

December 6, 2024

Skid Row Nonprofit ‘Fighting to End Homelessness’ Hires Former City Attorney Mike Feuer, the ‘Architect’ of Anti-Homeless Law

“I saw it and thought, this can not be that Mike Feuer,” the source said during an interview with L.A. TACO. “Anyone who is familiar with homeless issues in L.A. knows him as kind of a central villain.”

December 5, 2024

L.A.’s Best Pozoles Come In Red, Green, and White. And Sometimes With Shrimp, ‘Shrooms, and Jackfruit, Too

L.A. is a city of legendary pozoles, if you know where to look. Vegan, chicken, pork, pata, and even jackfruit. Each pozole on this list has its own distinct identity. All will warm your body and soul.

December 5, 2024
See all posts