Renaissance & Rebellion - Flipbook - Page 10
I learned where that convoluted path would ultimately lead almost 35 years
later in October of 2011, when I invited my best friends in art to join me on a panel
discussion at my L.A. Aboriginal art show in Beverly Hills. The show was extended
and I was asked to speak by gallerist Tom Gregory, but I instead suggested a panel
discussion with my like-minded friends. Every phone call to the now-Locos was
met with a “yes, sounds good” answer, and thus was organically born the original
California Locos. And that has been my focus ever since.
We all lived the similar and shared “L.A.” experience in different ways and
had spent our lives pursuing the need to talk about that through our art. But the
only way to really tell the full, fractured story we knew as “Los Angeles” was to
tell it as a group.
We are like a band or pack of skaters—deeply committed to our individual
pursuits, but also to the group itself. We’ve developed attitudes born out of a
constant defense regarding the rejection of status quo principles and a lack of place
within the normal culture, including in the “art world” itself. So we set out to make
our own art world, despite the consequences good and bad.
And we always remain willing to take that “one more push” in order to see how
far we can go—regardless of the risks involved.
Photo:
CALIFORNIA
14
LOCOS
Original Locos logo sketches by Dave Tourjé, 2013
