Plasticos Washington D.C. 1968
​
Latin American Art Foundation, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Curated by Ramon Osuna

and

A Plastic Presence, 1969 - 1970

The exhibit was shown at The Jewish Museum, New York, NY, 1969, the Milwaukee Art Center, Milwaukee, WI, 1970, and the
​San Francisco Museum of Art, CA, 1970.
Curated by Tracy Atkinson and John Lloyd Taylor

These exhibitions explored the use of plastics by artists.

XXIV, Rockne Krebs, 1967
Plexiglas 100” h x 72” w x 36” d
Photo: Victor Amato

A Plastic Presence, 1970, at the Milwaukee Art Center

Left to right: Pop Flower, Rockne Krebs, 1968, Plexiglas, 8' h; 
​Seated Female Figure, Frank Gallo, 1969; Henry’s Piece,
​Mon Levinson, 1969; Canada Series III, Louise Nevelson, 1968.

Photo: P. Richard Eells

Opening night of Plasticos Washington D.C. 1968, 
Latin American Art Foundation, San Juan, Puerto Rico
​
Artists: Enid Cafritz (Sanford), Geny Dignac, Juan Downey,
Rockne Krebs, and Ed McGowin

Excerpts from the Plasticos Washington D.C. 1968 exhibit catalogue. Introduction by Paul Richard.

John Anderson uploaded on Jun 27, 2018 to YouTube https://youtu.be/hA7ceYSyVc4

Film by DC artist, Edward Kelley on Rockne Krebs, includes Krebs in his studio working on a Plexiglas® sculpture.

The video shows Krebs' RA and Aleph2 installed in the 1969 Corcoran exhibition, Gilliam, Krebs, McGowin, as well as Krebs discussing his working process and later laser installations, including The Stern Line, 1970, first ever urban-scale laser environment. Also in the feature is Krebs' Cut Flowers, a laser installation piece at the Baltimore Museum of Art, titled for the four students who died at Kent State.

*  Plexiglas® (Studio and Corcoran Art Gallery)
*  Lightworks
*  Laser Works (Light Structures) Studio Experiments, Gallery          Exhibitions and Permanent Installations

The video was filmed on 16mm film in 1969-1970 by artist Edward Kelley, transferred to VHS in the 1980's, and transferred to QuickTime Video 2010. Video preservation is thanks to John Anderson!

The original 16mm film and VHS video is from Alice Denny's archives. Alice Denny was the first director of the Jefferson Place Gallery, involved in the founding of the Washington Gallery of Modern Art and founder of the Washington Project for the Arts.

Video has very poor sound quality.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/hA7ceYSyVc4

Rockne Krebs in his studio working on a Plexiglas sculpture, 1969.

1971 ArtForum full page ad. Bottom "A Film by Edward Kelley on Krebs' Photon Structures. 16mm."

John Anderson uploaded on Jun 27, 2018 to YouTube https://youtu.be/lPKLjq9d0Qo

1969 film by DC artist, Edward Kelley. Vignettes featuring Rockne Krebs, Sam Gilliam, and Ed McGowin.
​
Sequences
1: Gilliam, Krebs, McGowin, and Nina Felshin, playing a card game.
2: Krebs, Gilliam and McGowin in conversation.
3: Krebs creating a rainbow in the rain.
4: Sunlight and laser beams together to create an ephemeral sculpture
5: Krebs adjusting prisms on a skylight.
6: Prism rainbows projecting onto an unidentified female figure.

This film was possibly created in conjunction with the 1969 Corcoran exhibition, Gilliam, Krebs, McGowin.

Video contains no sound.

The video was filmed in 1969, on 16mm film by artist Edward Kelley, transferred to VHS in the 1980's, transferred to QuickTime Video 2010. Video preservation is thanks to John Anderson!

The original 8mm film and VHS video is from Alice Denny's archives. Alice Denny was the first director of the Jefferson Place Gallery, involved in the founding of the Washington Gallery of Modern Art and founder of the Washington Project for the Arts.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/lPKLjq9d0Qo

Additional recent video upload, Sam Gilliam, a film by Edward Kelley, 1969.
YouTube: https://youtu.be/HxvxQAn349c

Rockne's Experiments, a film by Ed Kelley

Archive for one sculpture: Untitled, Rockne Krebs, 1968.
Aluminum and light reflective tape, 154” H x 154” W x 120” D

Exhibits: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1968 Annual Exhibition Contemporary American Sculpture; Jefferson Place Gallery, 1968, Washington, DC; Byron Gallery, 1968, New York, NY, and
​used in fashion photos.

“One is a room-activating composition of aluminum triangles… For the viewer feels as if Krebs has discovered something as monumentally simple as the triangle or the space within a room. It is this simplicity, rather than the shifting richness that swirl about it, that persists in the viewer’s memory…
 
Krebs has written that he likes “the emptiness” of rooms, that he wants “the six planes that form the urban interiors through which our bodies move” to form the armatures for the sculpture that he makes.” Washington Post, Paul Richard, Restraint Enhances Young Washington Artist’s Sculptures, 1968.

Sun Dog, Rockne Krebs, 1976 
Solar and laser installations for the U.S. Bicentennial Expo Science and Technology, the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL.
​In 1976 Sun Dog was the first work of art ever commissioned by the
National Endowment for the Arts.

Sun dogs are a member of a large family of halos, created by light interacting with ice crystals in the atmosphere. Sun dogs appear as two subtly colored patches of light approximately 22° to the left and right of the Sun.

Altman, Stephen.  The Cultural Post, National Endowment for the Arts, July/August 1976, Let There Be Light Sculpture.

 "When the Los Angeles County Museum of Art launched its first Art & Technology program back in 1967, the idea of artists and technologists collaborating was radical—and the art world wasn’t quite ready."

GUESTS

Patrick McCray, Professor of History, University of California, Santa Barbara
John Craig Freeman, Public Artist, Professor of New Media Art, Emerson College
Brian Mullins, Founder, CEO, DAQRI, Los Angeles, California

From the Archives: Art and Technology at LACMA, 1967–1971 on view March 2015 - October 25, 2015.