This is the Ferus at night with a cutout of Wally Hopps done by Ed Kienholz during the exhibit of Ed's
Below Billy Al Bengston polishing up his artpiece
1957 photo of Bob 'Baza' Alexander, Wallace Berman, John Kelly Reed, Juanita Dixon and Walter Hopps in rear of The Ferus Gallery. Bob Alexander and John Reed were instrumental in getting the first Ferus Gallery up and running. Neither of them showed at the Ferus though.
In the case of so many things in life timing is everything. The Ferus Gallery years would be more influential to the art world than any one could have imagined, shaping imaginations and creating rich stores of artwork by this visionary community of artist's. Many of their works were made from society's discarded scraps and found objects being towed out of the deep end and resurrecting them into the beginning of the west coast assemblage movement, creating 'junk art' or a term created by them, 'Funk Art' in the 1950's, where anxieties turned into enthusiasm about the possibilities of capturing a form. Some of the paintings & assemblages of 'The Ferus Gang' were to make a political statement, a social dissent, while other pieces were drawn or assembled as if they were poetry or music. Surf, car culture was a definite for a few. The sculpted worksof these artists were formed using ceramics , light and glass, metal, plastic and paint mediums and of course in Kienholz & Herms (associated) case, Junk. Like any work, sometimes they missed the mark, on a wrong turn, which could be a 'happy mistake'; creating a reinterpretation of the mistake which could lead you into a new direction(s), where the reinvention of this development makes new disciplines along the way.
Fusing the external world with the inner self creating a unique visual expression through mediums, we experience constant change all around us and within us. As a result we are moved to react, interact and ultimately inspired to create. Believing that this transformation is in itself a creative process which is evident in all aspects of life, this complex process can be seen in changing season, moods, emotions, relationships tying into the cycle of life. As with so many of the Ferus Gallery artist's it alters your life. The intensity of the art has plenty of frustrations, but waking up with an idea and welding it to action in an unsure territory is the beauty. The Ferus Gallery artist's & works provided a new dimension in the social and generational aspects which essentially changed the playing field. Ferus made west coast art relevant to the artistic spere of world art and noticeably in modern abstract movements. Michael Wilson 2020