"There was a time when art was an assault on what art was, and practices were motivated by an elated passion for regions of the mind that amaze the vision more than the eyes. Cameron [b. Marjorie Cameron, Belle Plaine, Iowa, 1922; d. Los Angeles, 1995] was of a time of heedless belief in the power of art to invent and celebrate new ways of representation and being. Her work oscillates between the psychedelic and surreal and defies a conventional understanding of modernity as a logical notion of progress in art. She reminds us of how little we perceive of our existence and how much our mind, if fully explored, awakens an alternative knowledge.
Her life and her art parallel with some of the greatest creative minds of our time including Kenneth Anger, Wallace Berman, William Blake, Bruce Conner, George Herms, Henri Michaux, and Unica Zurn. With intellectual chemistry, a different history of our time can be written. If not written, a history that can be hallucinated is the only strategy to overcome the gruesome cruelty of a culture that has neglected the values of humanity for way too long, a culture that might leave the negative trace of systematic erosion, destruction, and obliteration. From Cameron's work, a museum can learn courage-the courage of a woman who defied the conventions of her time and followed so many women who remained in the shadow of patriarchy but who have often taken more revolutionary risk than their seminal husbands, lovers, and friends."
-Philippe Vergne, Director, MOCA.
Cameron: Songs for the Witch Woman (MOCA Pacific Design Center, West Hollywood, October 11, 2014 - January 11, 2015) is organized by MOCA Senior Curator Alma Ruiz and curated by Guest Curator Yael Lipschutz. Generous support for MOCA Pacific Design Center is provided by Charles S. Cohen. Additional support is provided by the Cameron Parsons Foundation, Santa Monica. In-kind media support is provided by KCRW 89.9 FM and Los Angeles magazine.