Perpetual Conceptual: Echoes of Eugenia Butler

West Hollywood, CA

January 25 – April 21, 2012

8126 – 8132 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90046

For Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945 – 1980, LAND and Corazon del Sol presented Perpetual Conceptual: Echoes of Eugenia Butler, a multi-part exhibition, in collaboration with the City of West Hollywood, focused around Eugenia Butler, Sr. and the conceptual projects that took place at Eugenia Butler Gallery (1968 – 1971).

At the center of Perpetual Conceptual was an ongoing group exhibition that featured artwork and significant ephemera from the gallery’s exhibitions and Butler, Sr.’s personal collection. Serving to capture and convey the sensibility of the moment, the dynamic of the community, and the intertwining dialogues, support, and creativity that stemmed from Butler, Sr. and her gallery, this central exhibition was supplemented by a rotating concentration space highlighting specific artists (the work of Eugenia P. Butler is the first on view). Artists included Michael Asher, George Brecht, Eugenia P. Butler, James Lee Byars, Paul Cotton, Marvin Harden, Douglas Huebler, Dorothy Iannone, Richard Jackson, Donald Karwelis, Ed Kienholz, Joseph Kosuth, Charlie Nothing, Eric Orr, Dieter Roth, Allen Ruppersberg, and William T. Wiley, among many others.

While these presentations explored Butler, Sr.’s history, a series of programs examined her continued influence on contemporary art dialogue. Presented at the exhibition’s performance space and venues throughout Los Angeles, these programs included the presentation of new contemporary artworks inspired by Eugenia Butler Gallery and the dynamic recreation of performances presented there. The first program, the recreation of Eric Orr, Wall Shadow, 1970 (presented as part of the Pacific Standard Time Performance and Public Art Festival organized by LA><ART).

Largely untold, and lost from history when compared to the thorough records held on Butler, Sr.’s contemporaries, Perpetual Conceptual introduces a community to the breadth of her gallery’s vision, the influential exhibitions and performances presented there, and Butler, Sr.’s critical role in shaping the Los Angeles art community.

About Pacific Standard Time:

Pacific Standard Time was an unprecedented collaboration of more than sixty cultural institutions across Southern California, coming together to tell the story of the birth of the L.A. art scene. Initiated through grants from the Getty Foundation, Pacific Standard Time took place for six months beginning in October 2011. Pacific Standard Time is an initiative of the Getty.