Exene Cervenka

The First Lady of X lets her Americana show in her New York gallery opening, "American the Beautiful"

By Anne C. Johnson
Published: February 2nd, 2006 | 9:12am

Exene Cervenka, musician (member of X, the Knitters, and the Original Sinners), poet, and citizen of these here United States would have found the humor in the beer cans and bottles left underneath the sign advertising her show, “America the Beautiful” the night of the show’s opening. In fact, this display was almost a fitting and unintentional tribute to Exene Cervenka, the artist, whose mixed media collages and journals were debuting that evening at DCKT Contemporary in New York City.

Exene’s collages were discovered by journalist and co-curator Christina McKenna while at Cervenka’s home for an interview. Soon Exene’s mixed media collages, plus some of her many journals, found themselves showing alongside a show that McKenna was co-curating called “Semina Culture: Wallace Berman and his Circle,” at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. DCKT Contemporary’s Dennis Christie, a longtime fan of Exene, traveled to the Santa Monica show and then contacted co-curator Michael Duncan to see if Exene would be interested in showing her work in NYC. “She was,” said Christie, “and here we are with the show now on view.”

Cervenka was raised in a small town in Illinois, then moved to Florida before eventually settling in Los Angeles (with a brief stint in Sandpoint, Idaho - where she recorded both of her solo albums - thrown in for good measure). Exene, herself, is clearly very American - and uniquely American, at that. She has a great gift for conveying Americana with the smallest of details and often with items that are normally thrown away by most. Her affection for this country is clearly displayed alongside her subtle critiques of our consumerist culture. This is particularly evident in her colleges. The ticket stubs and jukebox labels that comprise “Ticket on the Heartbreak Express” (2004) are just as loving a tribute as the more obvious valentines that are also embedded in the collage.

Exene’s journals - which were chosen from the approximate one hundred she has kept over a thirty-year period - represent 1981 to the present. The journals share a similar mixed media approach, plus song lyrics (“Beyond and Back”) and personal musings mixed with found objects that contextualize like, “J.R. for President” and a news wire that reads: “Reagan is indifferent to most Americans (across America).” Exene said in an interview with McKenna that diarists are the best documenters of the past; her journals are not only intimate remembrances of the punk era but are also great resources for unraveling details of the last decades of the previous century.

According to Christie, the attendees of the New York opening of “America the Beautiful” were “an amazing blend of art world types (collectors, curators, press, etc) and Exene fans that may very well never have been to a gallery opening before.” Christie also noted that sales of Exene’s work have been made to both her fans and to art collectors unfamiliar with her music career. DCKT Contemporary plans to continue to work with Exene and will have “never before seen work” at the booth the gallery will have at the Pulse Art Fair in New York City this March (for details, visit pulse-art.com/ny)

America the Beautiful will be on display until February 11, 2006 at DCKT Contemporary, 552 West 24th Street, between 10th and 11th Avenues in Chelsea. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 11AM to 6PM.