Opening on November 5th the gallery will show a selection of 35 single channel video tapes, all of which were produced by artists living and working in Southern California between the 1970 and 1993. The exhibition was organized by Los Angeles based artist Paul McCarthy who has been active in the Los Angeles art community since the late 60's, primarily as a performance and video artist. His recent installation in the exhibition "Helter Skelter" at the Los Angeles MOCA as well as his contributions to this years "Aperto" in Venice and to the critically acclaimed show "Post Human" in Lausanne have established Paul McCarthy as an important force in contemporary sculpture.
The artists whose video tapes will be featured in this show are: Bas Jan Ader, Eleanor Antin, Skip Arnold, John Arvanities, John Baldessari, Meg Cranston, John Duncan, Allan Kaprow, Hilja Keading, Mike Kelley, The Kipper Kids, Peter Kirby, Paul McCarthy, Susan Mogul, Bruce Nauman, Tony Oursler, Raymond Pettibon, Patty Podesto, Allen Ruppersburg, Ilene Segalove, Jim Shaw, Nina Sobel, Wolfgang Stoerchle, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto.
"The tape collection is by no means meant to appear or to be an anthology. This collection hardly scratches the surface of the number of video tapes made in Southern California. I was not concerned with creating a "video show" with a theme or a compiling a "gallery reel" of short concise tapes which would be directed at a conventional gallery situation. I was interested in collecting and creating a small library of tapes, a mixture of periods and of styles, older tapes made in the 70's, obscure tapes, documentation of performances, narrative video, and newer tapes by younger artists without a concern for a specific type or length of tape. Consequently, viewing in the gallery becomes more difficult and one can not drop in for a quick overview. Also the objective was to show these tapes a number of times in different occasions, to put in motion, the process of archiving, to revive interest in older tapes and to further the interest in video as a valid artists media." by Paul McCarthy