On this day, 50 years ago—August 11, 1965—the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts erupted in one of the most violent race rebellions in American history. A reaction to decades of oppression, economic disenfranchisement, and racial profiling endured by the African American community, the revolt left 34 people dead and devastated Watts, which was engulfed by fire for a week.
“We watched aghast the rioting, looting, and burning during the August happening. While the debris was still smoldering, we ventured into the rubble like other junkers of the community, digging and searching, but unlike others, obsessed without quite knowing why. By September … we had collected three tons of charred wood and fire-molded debris … We gave much thought to the oddity of our found things. Often the smell of the debris … turned our thoughts to what were and were not tragic times in Watts and to what to do with the junk we had collected, which had begun to haunt our dreams.” —Noah Purifoy
Noah Purifoy, Drum Song, 1966, Davis Collection © Noah Purifoy Foundation
In the riot’s wake, Purifoy, the founding director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, gathered a group of artists including Deborah Brewer, Judson Powell, Ruth Saturensky (currently known as Charu Colorado), and Arthur Secunda. Together, they created 66 Signs of Neon, an exhibition of works constructed from the debris Purifoy and Powell had collected. In keeping with his fascination for the street and its objects, Purifoy’s collaborative art project evoked a Neo-Dada approach to the fire-ravaged alleys of postriot Watts with a peculiarly American spirit of making use of the material at hand. Titled in reference to the crystalized lead drippings from burnt neon signs the artists used in their assemblages, 66 Signs of Neon traveled to nine venues across the country between 1966 and 1969. Installed here for the first time since the 1960s is a selection of surviving works from this landmark exhibition that, in Purifoy’s words, set him on his path as an artist.
This post is part of a series related to the exhibition, Noah Purifoy: Junk Dada, on view at LACMA through September 27. Follow #NoahPurifoy for more.
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