An interview of Bruce Conner conducted 1974 March 29, by Paul Karlstrom and Serge Guilbaut, for the Archives of American Art, in San Francisco, California.
Interview of Bruce Conner, conducted by Paul Karlstrom and Serge Guilbaut for the Archives of American Art, in San Francisco, on March 29, 1974. Conner speaks of his education and move to San Francisco; the art scene in California in the 1960s; the development and theory behind much of his work; his early paintings and collages; his assemblages; the sculpture A Child [1959] and its showing at the de Young Museum in 1959-60; his interaction with Beat writers; about the coining of the words "beatnik" and "hippie" and subsequent commercial exploitation of the Beat generation; and his attitude towards political protest. He also recalls Michael McClure, Wallace Berman, Ed Kienholz, Jay DeFeo, Wally Hedrick, Allen Ginsberg and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Bruce Conner (1933-2008) was a painter and filmmaker from San Francisco, California.
General:
Poor sound quality due to loud background noise.
Originally recorded on 1 sound tape reel. Reformatted in 2010 as 2 digital wav file. Duration is 1 hr., 26 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
