Bruce Conner exhibit puts his Wichita connections on display

Bruce Conner is a Beat Generation icon whose work helped define the San Francisco art world during the 1950s and 1960s. His groundbreaking pursuits in assemblage, sculpture, painting and experimental film garnered him international attention during his nearly 60-year career.

He – and the creative conscious he helped shape – also has strong ties to Wichita. That bond is on display in a new exhibit at the Ulrich Museum of Art that examines Conner’s broad range of achievements as a printmaker.

“Conner really was at the forefront of artists working at that time,” said Jodi Throckmorton, who curated the exhibit. “He has such a rich Kansas history. He was born in McPherson but grew up in Wichita. His father was a regional manager for Dillons grocery stores. Conner himself also went to WSU for a few years. There was somewhat of an exodus of Wichita creative types to San Francisco, and he was part of that. Allen Ginsberg was inspired to come here and write ‘Wichita Vortex Sutra’ based on Bruce Conner and (his contemporary) Mike McClure being from the area.”

When Throckmorton left the San Francisco Bay Area and joined the Ulrich Museum of Art’s staff in 2013, she did so with the idea of curating a Bruce Conner exhibit. In collaboration with the Conner Family Trust and several private collectors, she was able to bring together the largest retrospective of his work in over a decade and also offer rarely seen pieces. Though she recently left her post with the Ulrich for a new job at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, this show is among her proudest achievements from her time in Kansas, she said.

The exhibit, titled “Bruce Conner: Somebody Else’s Prints,” is on view through Dec. 14. Its name pays tribute to Conner’s quirky style, and it’s a reminder that fame did little to temper his nonconformist roots.

“It’s a big taboo in the print world if you have an imprint on the paper – it’s like a mistake,” Throckmorton said. “Conner put his thumbprint in the center as a way to thumb his nose at the art world’s convention. He also refused to sign some of the prints because an artist’s signature can add value to a piece. The thumbprint was his way of saying that he would sign the prints, but not in a way where the buyer could get any possible added value. The title of this show is a play on that identity process.”

The exhibit itself is mostly prints of different styles, with around 100 works from fine art and commercial lithography to digital printing, which Conner focused on toward the end of his life. It features lithographs that he made as a student in Kansas in 1944, as well as inkjet prints that were created using Photoshop in 2003, five years before his death at the age of 74.

One of the most notable works in the exhibit is Conner’s famous inkjet “Bombhead,” which features a suited man with an exploding smoke cloud protruding upward from the collar, referencing atomic war. Several other prints of explosive smoke puffs are also featured, adding to sobering, emotionally charged themes. A print of collages made from 19th-century engraving imagery called “The Dennis Hopper One Man Show” is included, a nod to the fellow Kansas actor and artist. A tapestry that includes some of Conner’s prints that he reworked in Photoshop is also among the collection.

“This is really the first display that spans his entire career in prints. When you walk into the show, you might think it’s a group exhibit; there are a lot of different mediums and subject matters,” Throckmorton said. “I think people will especially find the tapestry interesting. None of that has really been shown much or really researched much. I think his later years will become seen as even more important.”

While the focus of the exhibit is on Conner’s prints, there will also be opportunities to interact with his video work. Park of the exhibit features photographic slides used when he was part of a group that performed experimental light shows for acts like Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company and the Grateful Dead. Some of his experimental short films will also be screened on Nov. 4 as part of a talk hosted by the local arts group Creative Rush. That event will also include a discussion with artists about the impact of Conner’s work and its relevance for today.

Throckmorton said that while this exhibition is a look back at Conner’s career, she sees his work influencing many millennial artists.

“His wry sense of humor and that sarcasm in his work is seen now in a lot of the younger, more emerging contemporary artists today. It’s been cool to see the younger artists jazzed about his work. I think we’re just now realizing his reach. Hopefully, people in Wichita will be proud of that.”

This story was originally published October 23, 2014 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Bruce Conner exhibit puts his Wichita connections on display."