| Ferus Gallery The Beginnings |
Ferus Gallery 1957-1966
A Gallery & Community of culture of West Coast Artists
About the artist's community
The Ferus Gallery was founded as a contemporary art gallery in 1957
by Walter Hopps and Ed Kienholz . In the case of so many things in life
timing is everything. The Ferus Gallery years would be more influential
to the art world than any one could have imagined, shaping
imaginations and creating rich stores of artwork by this visionary
community of artist's.
Many of their works were made from society's discarded scraps and
found objects being towed out of the deep end and resurrecting them
into the beginning of the west coast assemblage movement, creating
'junk art' or a term coined by them, 'Funk Art' in the 1950's, where
anxieties turned into enthusiasm about the possibilities of capturing a
form. Some of the paintings & assemblages of 'The Ferus Gang' were
to make a political statement, a social dissent, while other pieces
were drawn or assembled as if they were poetry or music. Surf & car
culture was a definite for a few. The sculpted works of these artists
were formed using ceramics , light and glass, metal, plastic and paint
mediums and of course in Kienholz & Herms (associated) case, Junk.
Like any work, sometimes they missed the mark, on a wrong turn,
which could be a 'happy mistake'; creating a reinterpretation of the
mistake which could lead you into a new direction(s), where the
reinvention of this development makes new disciplines along the way.
Fusing the external world with the inner self creating a unique visual
expression though mediums, we experience constant change all
around us and within us. As a result we are moved to react, interact
and ultimately inspired to create. Believing that this transformation is
in itself a creative process which is evident in all aspects of life, this
complex process can be seen in changing season, moods, emotions,
relationships tying into the cycle of life.
As with so many of the Ferus Gallery artist's it alters your life. The
intensity of the art has plenty of frustrations, but waking up with an
idea and welding it to action in an unsure territory is the beauty.
The Ferus Gallery artist's & works provided a new dimension in the
social and generational aspects which essentially changed the playing
field. Ferus made west coast art relevant to the artistic spere of world
art and noticeably in modern abstract movements.
Michael Wilson/
Mendocino, California
2008
| Walter Hopps Hopps Hopps by Ed Kienholz 1959 |
Display ballons blown by Warhol
Berman exhibit 1957
Walter in office
Warhol Soup Cans