The Incorrect Museum: Sweet Land of Funk
About In 1967, a landmark exhibition of “Funk art” opened at Berkeley’s University Art Museum, featuring works by Northern California artists ranging from Bruce Conner, Peter Voulkos and Jim Melchert to William T. Wiley, Robert Arneson, Roy De Forest and David Gilhooly. In the exhibition catalog, curator Peter Selz painted the Bay Area as a […]
The Incorrect Museum: Pot Palace
About In 1959, Peter Voulkos began teaching ceramics at the University of California at Berkeley, establishing a “pot palace” in the basement of the University Art Museum. It was a vibrant, round-the-clock scene where artists—including Stephen De Staebler, Jim Melchert, Manuel Neri, Ron Nagle and Richard Shaw, among others—gathered to talk about art and life. […]
The Incorrect Museum: Nut Art
About In the late 1960s, a circle of artists—including Roy De Forest, Clayton Bailey, David Gilhooly, Peter Saul and Robert Arneson—adopted the label “Nut Art.” Each artist adopted a “nutty” artistic alter ego—Bailey, for instance, dubbed himself Dr. Gladstone, while De Forest began to identify as Doggie Dinsmour. Along with writer David Zack, De Forest […]
The Incorrect Museum: Dude Ranch Dada
About William T. Wiley, Robert Hudson and William Allan grew up together in Richland, Washington. In the 1950s, all three moved to San Francisco, studying painting at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) under Clyfford Still, Hassel Smith and other major figures in the Abstract Expressionist movement. In the […]
The Incorrect Museum: Museum of Conceptual Art
About In 1970, Tom Marioni founded the Museum of Conceptual Art (MOCA) in San Francisco. On the opening night, he presented the exhibition Sound Sculpture As, which included a range of sound-based installations. Marioni announced to the crowd that he would perform Allan Fish’s Piss Piece for him—then climbed a ladder, faced the wall, and […]
The Incorrect Museum: Worlds in Collision
About In 1976, Filipino artist and activist Carlos Villa organized an exhibition for the San Francisco Art Institute that was accompanied by theater, dance, music and feasts. It was called “Other Sources: An American Essay” and it was the beginning of Villa’s quest to redefine contemporary American art, organized around issues of multiculturalism, feminism and […]
The Incorrect Museum: Residence Re-hang
About di Rosa, along with many of the artists he collected, strictly opposed the aesthetic and social conventions of the mainstream art world, which he viewed as pretentious, sterile and fundamentally conservative. Unlike major museums in New York and Los Angeles, di Rosa welcomed the public free of charge, reflecting a populist vision for the […]
Hallway: Jock McDonald Pillow Portraits
About In 1967, a landmark exhibition of “Funk art” opened at Berkeley’s University Art Museum, featuring works by Northern California including Bruce Conner, Joan Brown, Peter Voulkos, Jim Melchert, William Wiley, Robert Arneson, Roy de Forest and David Gilhooly, among others. In the exhibition catalog, curator Peter Selz painted the Bay Area as a “sweet […]