The Gildless Age

Andrea Bowers, Jeff Cain, Claudia Cano, Collin Chillag, Sean Duffy, Ramiro Gomez, Justin John Greene, JEFF&GORDON (Jeff Foye & Gordon Winiemko), Elana Mann, Jane Mulfinger, Julie Shafer, Marc Trujillo, Dee Williams, and Bijan Yashar

The Gildless Age explores the Los Angeles and California socio-political and eco-geographic landscapes as the epitome of political and industrial tendencies emerging from the Gilded Age of American history.

The Gildless Age, guest curated by Denise Johnson in conjunction with the museum's curatorial department, takes as its lens and starting point the poster for the film Endless Summer by John Van Hamersveld. From this point The Gildless Age unpacks the landscapes of contemporary southern California, revealing more often than not complex histories of labor, race, environmental engineering, exploitation and violence that trace their lineages to the so-called Gilded Age. The Gildless Age sees this epoch comprising the birth of the American petrochemical industries, Jim Crow segregation, labor struggles, post-war migrations and American Imperialism watermark our modern sociopolitical climate.

Works on view examine the landscape stripped bare by industrial exploitation--from mineral extraction to power infrastructure and sub/urban development. From reflections on California landscapes mediated and circumscribed at all levels by hidden labor force to meditations on technological relationships, The Gildless Age seeks out the connections of history in our contemporary moment.