The ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ Museum of Art has been awarded a $220,000 Getty Foundation grant for the future exhibition βIt Happened at Pomona: Art at ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ 1969-1973β under the Getty Pacific Standard Time initiative. The exhibition will focus on the intensely creative period from 1969 to 1973, when the ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ Museum of Art (then the ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ Gallery) presented some of the most experimental exhibitions of contemporary art in Los Angeles.
The ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ Museum and Art Department served as an incubator for artists like Pomona alumni Chris Burden, James Turrell and Mowry Baden, among others. ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½βs exhibition of groundbreaking artworks (by Michael Asher, Jack Goldstein, and Allen Ruppersberg, for example) that integrated the legacy of Minimalism with the more contemporary concerns of Conceptualism formed the educational backdrop for a generation of artists who spent their formative years in Los Angeles.
Scheduled to open August 30, 2011 and to run through May 13, 2012, the βIt Happened at Pomonaβ exhibition and accompanying catalogue will place projects developed at ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ in the context of a transformative moment in the Los Angeles art world, while also providing insight on how contact between Los Angeles and New York shaped art history.
The grant to ΒιΆΉ΄«Γ½ is one of 26 grantsβtotaling nearly $3.1 millionβthat will launch an unprecedented series of concurrent exhibitions at museums throughout Southern California starting in Fall 2011. Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, a joint initiative of the Getty Foundation and the Getty Research Institute, aims to document the history of art in the regionβs vibrant post-World War II decades, and will be a unique opportunity for audiences to explore and celebrate L.A.βs artistic legacy.
