Off-Site Exhibition: John Outterbridge: Rag Man
Dec. 12 - Feb. 27 | Art + Practice
After growing up in the South and studying art in Chicago, John Outterbridge (b. 1933 Greenville, NC) moved to Los Angeles in 1963 and became a seminal figure in the California assemblage movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Like such peers as Noah Purifoy and John Riddle, he was deeply impacted by the Watts rebellion in 1965 and began to incorporate the detritus that littered the streets into his work. Raised in a community steeped in creativity as a part of everyday life and characterized by a strong ethos to save and recycle, Outterbridge has been composing sculpture from found and discarded materials and debris—including rags, rubber, and scrap metal—for more than 50 years. Also a committed educator and social activist, he cofounded the Communicative Arts Academy in Compton, where he was artistic director from 1969 to 1975 and was director of the Watts Towers Art Center from 1975 to 1992. The exhibition will focus on works made since 2000 composed of materials such as tools, twigs, bone, and hair—including a recent series called Rag and Bag Idiom—that recall ancient healing rituals or talismanic objects while also engaging in direct dialogue with the work of artists such as Edward Kienholz, Senga Nengudi, Noah Purifoy, and Robert Rauschenberg. Outterbridge’s work was featured in several exhibitions in the citywide initiative Pacific Standard Time in 2011-2012, including the Hammer’s Now Dig This! Art and Black Los Angeles 1960-1980, and he had his most recent solo show in Los Angeles at LA><ART in 2011.
John Outterbridge is organized by Hammer Museum senior curator Anne Ellegood with assistant curator Jamillah James.
Exhibition Dates: Dec. 12 - Feb. 27
Art + Practice
Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m.
Price: Free
Art + Practice is located at 4339 Leimert Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90008.