Yesterday's Tomorrowland Today:
A Retro-Rocket Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing!
Curated by Alexa Hunter & Ann Magnuson
Dedicated to the memory of Keith Haring
Yesterday's Tomorrowland Today is a group show of Xerox artwork (both new and vintage) by West Coast alumni of Club 57.
Club 57 was the infamous neo-Dada performance/art space that existed in New York’s East Village from 1978-1983 and was the subject of a recent retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Many of the artists featured in this new show, including the curators, had work in the MoMA exhibit which also highlighted the early careers of Kenny Scharf and Keith Haring. Haring curated many of Club 57’s first art shows, including 1980’s “Club 57 Xerox Art Invitational.” This new exhibit,Yesterday’s Tomorrowland Today is, in part, inspired by that 1980 show as well as Haring’s generous and joyful approach to creativity.
Opening the Sunday before the 50th anniversary of the moon landing, the show will explore the hopes and shattered dreams of postwar America’s ‘Atomic Age’ and how that legacy affects us today.
Magnuson explains: “Much of what we did at Club 57 was informed by the optimism of post-war America that defined our childhood. The NASA moon landing was the apex of that optimism, which was ultimately eroded by Vietnam, Watergate and the recession of the 1970s. By the time Club 57 opened its doors in 1978, we were hard at work rebuilding that optimism in the crime-ridden, drug-addled dystopia of New York City. We felt a connection to the spirit of the moon landing and a yearning for new, uncharted territory.
We think the relaxed, open environment of the Winslow Garage gallery is perfect for resurrecting the DIY spirit of Club 57. Plus, in a city and era where everything - especially in the art world - is becoming progressively more high-rent and luxury-obsessed (not to mention the existence of a concurrent dystopia escalating with the homeless crisis) we wanted to revisit and perhaps revive the spirit of low-cost/high-fun ‘art for art’s sake’ from our youth. Think Just Kids meets 2001: A Space Odyssey.”
The show will also include artwork and photographs from the era (including pieces from the original Haring-curated 1980 Xerox art show) as well as Kenny Scharf’s space-themed video “Carousel of Progress” and rare video from Scharf's “Salute to NASA” event held at Club 57 in 1980. There are also plans to screen NASA footage from the Apollo moon missions and clips from Magnuson’s new music video (co-directed by Adam Dugas) for the song “I Met An Astronaut” (written about her experience meeting Apollo 15 astronaut Dave Scott while working on the HBO series “From the Earth to the Moon” produced by Tom Hanks.)
Participating artists include Kenny Scharf, Kitty Brophy, Bruno Testore Schmidt, Howie Pyro, Barry Shils, Kristian Hoffman, Tessie Chua, Joe Lewis, Raghubir Kintisch (FKA N.A. Kintisch), John A. Mozzer, Tony Frere, Chuck Nanney, Jerry Beck, George Haas, Joseph Szkodzinski, Maripol, Simone Gad, George Stoll, Richard Davis, Steve Doughton, Alexa Hunter and Ann Magnuson. Also represented in early work: Joey Arias, Carmel Johnson, Robert Carrithers, April Palmieri, Animal X and the late Klaus Nomi, John Sex, Wendy Wild, Tseng Kwong Chi, Coco Ugaz, Adolfo Sanchez and Keith Haring.
Sunday reception featuring live performances by Ann Magnuson, Alexa Hunter, Kristian Hoffman, Pierre Smith, Robert Dayton and Ursula Gueringer.
Winslow Garage address: 3540 Winslow Drive, LA CA 90026
Between Edgecliff and Maltman south of Sunset Blvd,
Image Above: Original collage flyer for Kenny Scharf’s “Salute to NASA” event at Club 57; (C) 1980 Kenny Scharf
