(ART.) Designs and papers of Los Angeles artist Judson Powell. Hundreds of items (0.8 linear feet); minor to moderate wear. Los Angeles, CA, circa 1979-2005
Richard Judson Powell (1933-2021) was Noah Purifoy's main collaborator in the 66 Signs of Neon "junk art" exhibition, built from material salvaged from the 1965 Watts Uprising. He launched the Communicative Arts Academy in Compton in the early 1970s, and was a central figure in the Watts community for decades--as an assemblage artist, educator, musician, and guardian of the famous Watts Towers.
Most of this collection relates to textual art which Powell created from the 1990s onward. A provocative phrase would be boldly hand-drawn in block letters, enhanced with blank-and-white collage elements (the American flag being a favorite motif), and distributed in photocopy form, often with loosely related texts on verso. This collection contains approximately 120 sketches, maquettes, and revised photocopies of these textual pieces. Typical examples read "Monopoly is the Only Game in Town"; "We Gotta Make Our Own Stars"; "Business or Bullshit: Cultural Reciprocation"; and "Everything is Open." Others were (perhaps) created with a practical purpose in view: "The Watts Design Center: Actions & Objectives" or "Chairs." None of them bear his signature, although one does bear his name on a typed slip of paper, and many bear the imprint of "The Communicative Arts, Inc." Also included are hundreds of photocopies, some of them apparently intended for distribution, some of them partially cut up and cannibalized for use in other compositions. Also included are hundreds of clippings and photocopies which were used as research or as possible design elements. The line here between art, signage, process, original, reproduction, and detritus is not always entirely clear--much in the spirit of 66 Signs of Neon.
Also featured are 60 leaves of manuscript notes, most of them the same kind of phrases used by Powell in his art, but hastily scrawled rather than carefully lettered; others run the spectrum through to-do lists and phone numbers. A folder of general ephemera from Watts and greater Los Angeles includes 8 items, including fliers for "Green Manufacturing Jobs" in Watts, the "New Beginning African Village" downtown, and an art gallery and chili kitchen called the Truth Center; plus an apparently unproduced 1996 screenplay titled "WattsQuest." A full-page broadsheet newspaper ad from the Los Angeles Sentinel dated 6 December 1979, mounted on board, is devoted to his art series "Year of the Full Circle." Finally, one folder relates to Powell's life and career, including a lone photograph, fliers for his exhibits and academy, a 2005 letter from a Los Angeles museum director, his 1988 eulogy to actor Paris Earl, a typescript poem, his chapbook "Arts Gotta Stand On Its Own"; and his compilation of poetry and essays (none found in OCLC or elsewhere) titled "It's All About Putting Things Together."
