BRUCE CONNER
PUNKS (1978) and DEAD ASHES (1995) and EVE-RAY-FOREVER (2006)
October 20 – November 24, 2007

Michael Kohn Gallery is pleased to present photographs, collages and a film installation by
esteemed San Francisco-based artist, Bruce Conner. Conner emerged in the late 1950s among the Bay Area’s Beat generation and quickly came to prominence for his quasi-erotic sculptures, assemblages, and found footage film installations. He later garnered critical acclaim for his punk photographs, wood engraving collages, and inkblot drawings.

For PUNKS and DEAD ASHES, Conner pays homage to dead punk stars in a rendition of
collages made of plywood, glue, ragboard, tacks, posters, and photocopies of punk photographs taken in the late 1970s. The rare, sculptural collages, which are eulogies and odes to punk stars such as Ricky Williams, Frankie Fix, Johnny Strike, and De Detroit, bare a striking resemblance to Conner’s assemblage pieces from the early 1960s. Also on view are photographs taken from Mabuhay Gardens, a performance venue that hosted many San Francisco punk bands such as the Avengers, Roz of Negative Trend, The Situations, UXA, Toni Basil and Devo, among others. Bruce Conner, EVE-RAY-FOREVER, 1965-2006; Screen Silent DVD Projection transf. from 8mm film

In the second gallery is the digitally restored version of THREE SCREEN RAY, now titled EVE-RAY- FOREVER. This was originally shown at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University in 1965 in 8mm silent film. Conner digitally transferred the film to DVD, and is being presented as a continuous loop. The film mixes found footage from early 20th century sources containing a striptease, educational film clips, animated cartoons, and silent movies.

Conner is included in the permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Musee Nationale de l’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Conner’s films have been preserved in the Library of Congress along with numerous other film archives. Bruce Conner lives and works in San Francisco.