"State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970" September 28 to December 9, 2012 Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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"8 Natural Handstands (detail)"

Robert Kinmont, "8 Natural Handstands (detail)," nine silver gelatin prints, 1969 /2009, 8.5” X 8.5” each. Photo: Joerg Lohse, courtesy Alexander and Bonin, New York.

State of Mind: New California Art Circa 1970

September 28 to December 9, 2012

Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

By Jill Sawyer

This show at the Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery captures, more than anything else, the state of freedom that inspired artists in California in the late 1960s and early 70s. It was a place for experimentation in conceptual art, and an escape from the critical oversight of the New York art press and commercial gallery system. “The artists who came to California at this time were, like many other transplants, attracted by its beauty, climate and relative ease of living,” says the gallery’s statement. “More importantly, the state was emerging as an incubator for social change and youth-oriented counterculture.” Curated by Constance Lewallen and Karen Moss, the show is co-organized by the Orange County Museum of Art, the University of California, Berkeley Art Museum, and Pacific Film Archive, and circulated by Independent Curators International. Divided into central themes, the 150 works include pieces by art stars including John Baldessari, Ed Ruscha and Bruce Nauman, and lesser-known artists of that time and place. The collection is made up of video, film, photography, performance documentation, installation, artist’s books, drawings and paintings.