Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada

Viewing art as affecting change, the California-based artist and
 founding director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, Noah Purifoy, 
embraced dichotomy and explored disparate juxtapositions in his work,
 making use of material at hand. He found “beauty in what has been
 discarded” states Franklin Sirmans, Terri and Michael Smooke 
Department Head and Curator of Contemporary Art at Los Angeles County
Museum of Art (LACMA), “to give new life to an object by changing its
 context, transforming it from junk to artwork”.


The exhibit includes, among others, abstract topography, a mixed media collection, furniture, and a Nkisi, a ritual object from lower Congo, made by the artist from nails and an old piano pedal. At times Purifoy’s art has a hint of humor, such as the Office Chair, The last Supper, and Rags and Old Iron II, a collage of tattered clothing evoking Tanya Marie Harris’ song Second Hand Dreams, as well as multiple art pieces with references to Jazz musicians such as Black Brown and Beige (1989) after Duke Ellington, representing gigantic fingers pointed towards the sky playing the piano.


Purifoy's landmark exhibition 66 Signs of Neon, is an exhibition of
 works constructed from fire ravaged debris collected after the 
8/11/1965 Watts rebellion. Displayed are selections of his surviving 
works from his landmark exhibition that set him on the path as an
 artist. 
Presented are approximately one dozen assemblage works, three-dimensional standing-alone sculptures, by Purifoy and other 
artists, including
 Judson Powell, Debbie Brewer, and Arthur Secunda.

 

Spending the last 15 years of his life in Joshua Tree, Purifoy
 established his Outdoor Museum, an international cultural destination
 with more than 120 large scale sculptures over 10 acres, composed
 entirely of junk.

Special to this exhibit are eight 
large-scale assemblages rarely seen 
outside of the Noah Purifoy
 Foundation's Joshua Tree Outdoor Museum, 
and include From the Point of
 View of the Little People (1994), Ode to
 Frank Gehry (1999), and 65
 Aluminum Trays (2002). The public can enjoy 
four of the large-scale
 works displayed within the exhibition 
galleries, and four situated
 outdoor on LACMA's campus adjacent to the 
Resnick Pavilion and in the 
Los Angeles Times Central Court.


The exhibit runs from June 7, 2015, through September 27, 2015, at BCAM, 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036. For more information call (323) 857-6000 or visit http://www.lacma.org/