THE WELCOME RETURN OF PUNK

BY: Alan Bisbort

Punk never really went away, did it? That’s why the name of this exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Westport, Conn. (“Punk Is Coming”) is more of a question than a statement of fact. For one thing, it’s a kind of in-joke for anyone who was carousing in Lower Manhattan around 1976. That’s when a trio of transplanted Connecticut-raised rowdies (John Holmstrom, Legs McNeil, Ged Dunn) began plastering trash cans, subway walls and buildings all over Downtown New York with this slogan, in anticipation of their own scene-defining magazine by the same name (“Punk”). 
 

 

 

 

 

“Punk”, the magazine, came and went, the final issue of its initial run published in 1979. But Punk the D.I.Y./free expression concept never really went away. It is, in fact, currently encamped (until June 5) at this un-punklike venue in Westport, a lovely, castle-like structure in the heart of the leafiest, toniest suburbia, the farthest cry imaginable from the mayhem of Punk’s roots in Downtown NYC and London. And yet, this large and boisterous exhibition may pleasantly surprise even folks who had no prior knowledge of, or appreciation for, the Punk era of the late 1970s, its music, visuals, free expression and D.I.Y. spirit.

 

 

 

 

Curated by four women, including MoCA Westport’s executive director Ruth Mannes, “Punk Is Coming” features photographers, filmmakers and graphic artists “whose work defined the punk era in the 1970s in New York City, Los Angeles and other cities around the world.” But like the word ‘punk’ itself, the definition of this show is malleable, incorporating work by more contemporary artists as well; that is, those who have been “heavily influenced by the movement”, including some striking collages by Marian Schwindeman, one of the other curators of the exhibition, and Tony Hope. 
 

 

 

In all, the creations of more than 50 artists fill three separate spaces at MoCA Westport, including a gallery large enough to allow for ceiling-mounted video screens and enlarged hanging photographs of some Punk demigods, such as The Ramones, Johnny Rotten, Debbie Harry, Elvis Costello and Richard Hell.

 

 

 

The multimedia presentation can seem at first overwhelming, a bit like any curiosity seeker’s first visit to CBGB, the Mudd Club or Max’s Kansas City in the 1970s. But if given a chance to sink in, the work proves to be of the highest quality, particularly the prints by women photographers like Roberta Bayley (one of the exhibition’s co-curators), Jenny Lens, Janette Beckman, Ruby Ray, Eileen Polk, and Ebet Roberts.

There’s also work by Punk-era stalwarts like Robert Mapplethorpe, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Duncan Hannah, plus footage from No Wave filmmaker Amos Poe, the Gonightclubbing archive of Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong and rare videos by Merrill Aldighieri. There’s even some excellent work by Punk demigods themselves, particularly a tile portrait of two women by David Johansen, former frontman/woman for the New York Dolls (later reincarnated as Buster Poindexter), Jayne County’s outsider-flavored paintings, and a series of painted portraits by Richard Butler (erstwhile lead vocalist for the Psychedelic Furs).

 

 

Maybe the biggest surprise about “Punk Is Coming” is that much of this art does not feel dated or nostalgic, thus turning the exhibition’s title into an open question. Did it ever go away? No. There’s something timeless about creative anarchy. Hippies are still with us. And so are beatniks. There’s a reason for their longevity and this exhibition may be the thing that removes the scales of nostalgia from one’s eyes. The work still retains the ability to inspire, provoke or even shock (Warning: some of the work is not suitable for kids or the faint of heart). Who knew that a movement that began with shoestrings and safety pins as an in-the-moment cry of freedom could still seem so vibrant and engaging on its own terms and merits? As Johnny Rotten put it–in one of the quotes included by the MoCA curators, “There are not many songs written over baked beans at the breakfast table that went on to divide a nation and force a change in popular culture.”

 

If You Go:
“Punk Is Coming,” on view through June 5, 2022, Museum of Contemporary Art Westport, 19 Newtown Turnpike, Westport, CT. 203-222-7070, https://mocawestport.org/