Picture


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 works of 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
Above Wallace Berman in front of one of his installations                                                            The Rose by Jay DeFeo
      for upcoming show 'Semina' 1957 Ferus Gallery