Karma Gallery Presents Four California Artists from 1950s-60s Bay Area Scene

Karma gallery in New York City hosted an exhibition from November 12 to December 22, 2017, featuring Jean Conner, Wally Hedrick, Deborah Remington, and Franklin Williams. These artists emerged from Northern California's art scene during the 1950s and 1960s, alongside figures like Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, Joan Brown, Michael McClure, Manuel Neri, and Wallace Berman. Their community is documented in Anastasia Aukeman's 2016 book 'Welcome to Painterland: Bruce Conner and the Rat Bastard Protective Association' from University of California Press. Franklin Williams, then 78, displayed nine vibrant works from the 1960s and 1970s using paint, yarn, and crochet thread, including 'See and Always Be Seen' (1975) and 'Untitled' (1968). Jean Conner, 84, presented 22 small collages from the 1960s through 1980s, often using magazine imagery to create surreal compositions. Deborah Remington, who died in 2010, showed large paintings reflecting her studies with Clyfford Still and Elmer Bischoff at the California School of Fine Arts, such as 'Dr. S' (1962) and 'Winter' (1963). Wally Hedrick, who died in 2003, was represented by his 'Black Paintings' series, begun in the 1960s as a protest against the Vietnam War and continued into the 2000s opposing the Iraq War, including 'Vietnam/Irac' (1970, 2003). The exhibition highlighted how these artists developed personal visions through mutual support while isolated from major art centers.