Building A Different Model: Selections from the di Rosa Collection
Notes
March 9 - December 29, 2019, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa
Exhibition
Based on a True Story: Highlights from the di Rosa Collection
Notes
October 26, 2016 - October 15, 2017, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa
Research Notes
Research Type
Curator
Date
2016
Notes
On the heels of the early punk rock scene, Ron Nagle (also a student of Peter Voulkos) was in the studio recording an album with the New Wave band the Durocs. Nagle had already put out a solo album in 1970, and before that, formed the garage rock band Mystery Trend with friends from the San Francisco Art Institute; they shared the stage with Grateful Dead in the late 1960s. The Durocs didn’t last, but Nagle continued to write songs and compose sound effects for movies (notably The Exorcist [1973]), alongside his influential art practice. Wordplay from song lyrics subtly made its way into the titles of Nagle’s brightly colored, meticulously made ceramic works, nodding to the complexities underlying their perfectly applied glazes. California Dreamin’ (1975) shares a title with the 1965 hit by the Mamas and the Papas (for whom Nagle also wrote songs), which predated punk as a theme song of counterculture insurgency.
