Cool School Screening
Thank you Dean Stockwell, Larry Bell, Andrew Connors, the KiMo Theatre and everyone who came out for The Cool School Screening for a wonderful evening!
Another beautiful example of the “power of having persistence of vision!”
EVENT: Albuquerque Film Festival and Savor Albuquerque present The Cool School
– Followed by Q & A with world-renowned artists Larry Bell and Terry Allen, moderated by Andrew Connors, Curator of Art at The Albuquerque Museum of Art & History.
WHEN: Tuesday, June 7, 2011, 7pm
WHERE: KiMo Theatre, 423 Central Avenue Northwest, Albuquerque, NM 87102
TICKETS: A Benefit for Film 4 Change and the Albuquerque Film Festival, open to the public with a suggested $10 donation at the door. Click here to purchase tickets or make a donation.
THE COOL SCHOOL, directed by Morgan Neville is an abject lesson in how to build an art scene from scratch and what to avoid in the process. The film focuses on the seminal Ferus Gallery, which groomed the LA art scene from a loose band of idealistic beatniks into a coterie of competitive, often brilliant artists, including Ed Kienholz, Ed Ruscha, Craig Kauffman, Wallace Berman, Ed Moses and Robert Irwin. The Ferus also served as launching point for New York imports, Andy Warhol (hosting his first Soup Can show), Jasper Johns, and Roy Lichtenstein, as well as leading to the first Pop Art show and Marcel Duchamp’s first retrospective. What was lost and gained is tied up in a complex web of egos, passions, money, and art. This is how LA came of age.
Why The Cool School? “Film 4 Change seeks to present films and the related arts that celebrate story and the art of being human. The story of The Cool School is a quintessential example of how creativity creates change and impacts economy through a dedication to the arts and a persistence of vision. The fact that we have a world-famous artist such as Larry Bell, who is featured in the film, willing to share his perspectives and stories about how this group of artists who created the scene in Los Angeles, is a huge opportunity for all of us who are engaged in the continued growth of the arts in Albuquerque,” says Rich Henrich, founder Film4Change and Director of the Albuquerque Film Festival.
Cast: Irving Blum, Walter Hopps, Ed Ruscha, Frank Gehry, Dennis Hopper, Ed Kienholz, Billy Al Bengston, John Baldessari, Dean Stockwell, Larry Bell, Ken Price.
NARRATOR: Jeff Bridges
“I remember the word ‘Ferus’ outside had this kind of magic to it. Ferus had a much sparer approach to showing art. If you want to put a tiny painting on a single big wall, you’re welcome to it. And the artist is the boss.” —Ed Ruscha, Ferus Gallery artist
Additional information courtesy of PBS: Independent Lens:
How do you build an art scene from scratch—and not lose your soul in the process? THE COOL SCHOOL is the story of the Ferus Gallery, which nurtured Los Angeles’s first significant post-war artists between 1957 and 1966.
In late 1956, medical-school dropout Walter Hopps met artist Ed Kienholz for lunch at a hot dog stand on La Cienega Boulevard. The two drafted a contract on a hot dog wrapper that stated simply, “We will be partners in art for five years.” And with that, the Ferus Gallery was born.
Operating out of a small storefront, the gallery hosted debut exhibitions and served as a general launching point for Ed Kienholz, Ed Ruscha, Craig Kauffman, Wallace Berman, Ed Moses and Robert Irwin, among many other artists. By the time it closed in 1966, the gallery had also played a role in solidifying the careers of many of New York’s brightest talents, including Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns.
First under the leadership of genius autodidact Walter Hopps, then the smooth-as-silk Irving Blum, Ferus groomed the Los Angeles art world from a loose band of idealistic beatniks into a coterie of competitive, often brilliant artists. What was lost and what was gained was tied up in a complicated web of egos, passions, money, interpersonal relationships and artistic statements.
The gallery’s eventual success came at a cost. The closing of Ferus, just as it was finally becoming financially solvent, is indicative of the volatile and complex relationship money invariably has with art. But while Ferus had a polarizing effect on artists, ideas and art, the gallery managed to do for art in Los Angeles what the museums previously could not. Even though their modalities were as disparate as assemblage art, abstract expressionism and Pop, Ferus artists shared ideas, goals, workspaces and a lasting vision.
