Paralleling a new interest in eastern philosophy andZen viaAlan Watts and the literary and poetic irreverence ofLawrence Ferlinghetti,Allen Ginsberg, and others, visual artists such asBruce Conner andJay DeFeo diverged from theAbstract Expressionism of the east coast to make connections between sculpture and painting. Connor's found material assemblages, collages and experimental films make him an early cross-disciplinary pioneer.
PainterWayne Thiebaud's paintings of commonplace products such as toys or gumball machines paralleled the pop influencedFunk style. Involving bright colors, humor and word-play, Funk is most often associated with the ceramic work ofRobert Arneson, and the paintings ofWilliam T. Wiley. All three, along withRoy De Forest andManuel Neri taught at UC Davis in the 60s and 70s. (Artist and educatorPeter Voulkos set the stage for Funk by reengaging ceramics as part of contemporary studio practice.)Bruce Nauman, who is often credited with dissolving the medium specific practices of previous generations, went to UC Davis and studied under William Wiley.
By the end of the 1960sConceptual Art andMinimal Art were reforming the aesthetics and values of visual art. Bay Area artists responded to the dominance of the white cube, and transitioned from an object-oriented to a systems-oriented practice inspired byMarcel Duchamp.[1] In the Bay Area, starting in the 1970s, Artists such asTom Marioni, Paul Kos,Howard Fried andTerry Fox, explored the intersection of performance and sculpture. Also picking up on conceptualism, with an added materialist strain, wasDavid Ireland.Tony Labat brought a political dimension to Bay Area conceptualism, with video, performance and installation works that confronted issues of cultural identity, loss and displacement.[2]
In 1967 The Experimental Television Project (later renamed the National Center for Experiments in Television), housed atKQED studios was one of the first programs in the nation to give artists access to television studios and equipment. Groups likeAnt Farm, Video Free America, and T.R. Uthco working in the same moment were video recording "happening" performances, and experimenting with light sound and time.[3]
