AFTERMATH at the Robert Graham Studios

 L to R Jim McHugh, Angela Fujita, Gajin Fujita and Big Sleeps planning Aftermath - painting by Prime.

55" x 44" Innova canvas print of Prime, using Impossible Project color 8x10 instant film

Defer and Heaven

 LOS ANGELES: AFTERMATH

-an exhibition of works by Robert Graham, Jim McHugh, Gajin Fujita, Alex Kizu aka “Defer”, Juan Carlos Munoz  aka “Heaven”, Joe Reza aka “Prime”, and Big Sleeps.

(right) Robert Graham, 1992 on vintage Type 55 Polaroid film
(left) Steven Graham, 2016,  curator of AFTERMATH, on The New55 Film

Robert and his son, Steven, are photographed at the same age by Jim McHugh

In the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, many the City felt the need to DO SOMETHING.  Robert Graham, a sculptor who lived and worked in Venice, was one, and he had a thought.  What if I teach some youth, to redirect all that energy to something creative and productive?  Teach them the art of making multiples and casting in bronze?   At the time, Robert Graham was an artist trustee of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, and he proposed set up a foundry workshop, and hire, pay and teach a group of at-risk youth to produce a series of small bronze work to be sold to raise money for the museum.  The resulting work became known as the MOCA TORSO (1992-95), and over the three-year period, the studio produced over 3500 individual works, and it remains one of the most iconic works by the artist, who passed away in 2008.  

Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez "Heaven" photographed on Impossible Project 8x10 film by Jim McHugh

 
This exhibition, AFTERMATH, brings together, works by Robert Graham, Juan Carlos Munoz Hernandez, Gajin Fujita, Alex Kizu aka “Defer”, Joe Reza aka “Prime”, and Big Sleeps, along with Jim McHugh's large format portraits of the above mentioned artists on Impossible Project film. Also on display are McHugh's photographs of Robert Graham’s MOCA Torso project in 1992 that were published in numerous magazines.

Big Sleeps

Juan Carlos Munoz "Heaven"

The exhibition runs through April 29, 2016 as part of the Month of Photography Los Angeles.

Robert Graham Studio Gallery 

5856 Adams Blvd. Culver City, CA 90232.   

(310) 399-5374