REBEL
05.15.12 – 06.23.12
JAMES FRANCO · DOUGLAS GORDON · HARMONY KORINE · DAMON MCCARTHY · PAUL MCCARTHY · TERRY RICHARDSON · ED RUSCHA · AARON YOUNG
941 North Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Opening Event: Saturday, May 12, 2012, 8–10pm
REBEL hours: Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm; free admission.
Rebel is an interrogative ode to Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece Rebel Without A Cause (1955), conceived by Franco to embrace and mine the main themes and events in the original film. The exhibition reinterprets the film’s legends, the people involved, its place in Hollywood, film as a medium, and behind-the-scenes footage, in a new, fresh, and unconventional presentation of film, video installation, photography, painting, drawing, and sculpture, housed in and framed by iconic, Hollywood structures.
In Rebel, the contributions of each artist are combined to capture the spirit of the original film through references to the auto and motorcycle culture of the 1950s, which James Dean was a part of; teenage angst and issues of identity back then, related to identity now; patrilineal exchange, and the relationships of father and son, and mentor and student; male and female sexuality; fiction and fact; and Hollywood and the art world. The Chateau Marmont is one of the central points in Rebel, and perhaps the single most significant reference and home to Hollywood behind the scenes life, acting as a linking structure to the exhibition, and to several of the works presented.
In conjunction with Rebel, Paul and Damon McCarthy present the exhibition Rebel Dabble Babble at The Box gallery, 805 Traction Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90013. More info at theboxla.com.
A fully illustrated, 192-page, four-color, hardcover book entitled Rebel, featuring select works by the participating artists, writing by Franco, and an essay by Francisco J. Ricardo, PhD, faculty at RISD, author, and art theorist will accompany the exhibition. The book is published by OHWOW, and will be available at OHWOW and at the MOCA Store.
Presented by Gucci
Major support is provided by 7 For All Mankind and Samsung
Additional support is provided by JF Chen
Exhibition designed and produced by Commonwealth Projects
Rebel logotype by Mark Mahoney
