Bruce Conner: It’s All True
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd St, San Francisco, CA 94103
October 29, 2016 – January 22, 2017

Now on view at SFMOMA, Bruce Conner: It’s All True is the first comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s work, co-organized with the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Conner, a pioneer in experimental film, collage, photography, conceptual work, and painting, spent much of his career in the Bay Area, and the exhibition comes to SFMOMA after its presentation in New York. CHILD, a sculpture shown in 1960 in San Francisco, has recently been restored by MoMA’s conservation department after years of trial and error in replicating its materials—CHILD is on view in the retrospective after two decades away from public view. Bruce Conner: It’s All True includes more than 250 objects in a range of media, including film and video, works on paper, assemblages, photographs and photograms, and performance.
 

CROSSROADS, 1976. 35mm film, black and white, sound, 37 minutes. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Accessions Committee Fund purchase) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, with the generous support of the New Art Trust; Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Bruce Conner, CROSSROADS, 1976. 35mm film, black and white, sound, 37 minutes. Collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (Accessions Committee Fund purchase) and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, with the generous support of the New Art Trust; Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.


 
CHILD, 1959. Wax, nylon, fabric, metal, twine, and wood high chair, 34.625 × 17 × 16.5 inches. Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of Philip Johnson; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Bruce Conner, CHILD, 1959. Wax, nylon, fabric, metal, twine, and wood high chair, 34.625 × 17 × 16.5 inches. Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, gift of Philip Johnson; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.


 
MEXICO COLLAGE, 1962. Netting, paper, paint, ink stamps, fringe, bell, and costume jewelry on Masonite, 23 × 32 × 5 inches. Collection of di Rosa Collection, Napa, California; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Bruce Conner, MEXICO COLLAGE, 1962. Netting, paper, paint, ink stamps, fringe, bell, and costume jewelry on Masonite, 23 × 32 × 5 inches. Collection of di Rosa Collection, Napa, California; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.


 
TICK-TOCK JELLY CLOCK COSMOTRON, 1961. Wall component: wood, fabric, cardboard, wallpaper, magazine pages, stickers, string, twine, plastic film, glass fragments, mirror fragments, iron straps, grommets, nails, screws, upholstery tacks, metal foil, aluminum sheet, electrical socket, electrical wiring, rubber hose, beads, costume jewelry parts, sequins, ribbon, nylon stocking, cigarette filter, paint, graphite, bitumen, and resin on pressed hardboard; painted wood frame with mirror segments; floor component: wood spool, fiberboard cone, paper, paint, monofilament netting, electrical plug, insulated wire, speaker, audio cable, iron wire, rings and clips, paper, yarn, and twine; 5” reel of half-track monaural tape transferred to digital files; wall component: 57.5 × 53.75 × 5 inches. Cone: 43.75 × 15 inches. diameter. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, restricted gift of Janss Foundation, Twentieth-Century Purchase Fund; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Bruce Conner, TICK-TOCK JELLY CLOCK COSMOTRON, 1961. Wall component: wood, fabric, cardboard, wallpaper, magazine pages, stickers, string, twine, plastic film, glass fragments, mirror fragments, iron straps, grommets, nails, screws, upholstery tacks, metal foil, aluminum sheet, electrical socket, electrical wiring, rubber hose, beads, costume jewelry parts, sequins, ribbon, nylon stocking, cigarette filter, paint, graphite, bitumen, and resin on pressed hardboard; painted wood frame with mirror segments; floor component: wood spool, fiberboard cone, paper, paint, monofilament netting, electrical plug, insulated wire, speaker, audio cable, iron wire, rings and clips, paper, yarn, and twine; 5” reel of half-track monaural tape transferred to digital files; wall component: 57.5 × 53.75 × 5 inches. Cone: 43.75 × 15 inches. diameter. Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, restricted gift of Janss Foundation, Twentieth-Century Purchase Fund; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.


 
Bruce Conner and Edmund Shea, SOUND OF TWO HAND ANGEL, 1974. Gelatin silver print; 88 × 37 inches. Collection of Tim Savinar and Patricia Unterman; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Bruce Conner and Edmund Shea, SOUND OF TWO HAND ANGEL, 1974. Gelatin silver print; 88 × 37 inches. Collection of Tim Savinar and Patricia Unterman; © 2016 Conner Family Trust, San Francisco / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Courtesy of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.