THE DETOURNEMENTS OF EDWARD COLVER: PLAY-GROUND ZERO

E X H I B I T  A  G A L L E R Y   P R E S E N T S

THE DETOURNEMENTS OF EDWARD COLVER: PLAY-GROUND ZERO

NOTICE: CREATE - DESTROY - RECREATE

Los Angeles, California, THE DETOURNEMENTS OF ED COLVER: PLAY-GROUND ZERO is a calculated assault on mainstream complacency, predictable retrospectives, and the static images of the past. Exhibit A Gallery presents this cross-generational exhibition that completely rips open the archives of the definitive visual chronicler of Southern California subculture by transforming Ed Colver's unreleased photographic history into live ammunition for the modern underground. For decades, the raw, unpolished energy of the Southern California punk explosion has been systematically diluted by corporations and their surrogates, attempting to package a rebellion into safe, controlled, predictable, commercialized products and its visual history as dead museum pieces, only to be admired from the safe distance of time. The exact same iconic photographs have been showcased at galleries multiple times, decade after decade, the same exhibition just with a different exhibition title and a different exhibition location. PLAY-GROUND ZERO isn't a retrospective; it's an active continuation in the same rebellious spirit that made a movement relevant. Instead of relying on just the same overexposed imagery, Edward Colver is opening up his cultural-historical vault to showcase photographs that have never been seen before or have been witnessed so rarely they exist only in rumors. Rather than highlighting only the standard live concert photography, this specifically curated collection exposes much more: raw lifestyle shots and uncensored visual candid social commentary of life in the unseen Los Angeles going back decades. Using the volatile punk era as a central pivot point, these images map the collision of this distinct cultural movement and underground social realities that Colver captured artistically and unhindered. Throughout his legendary career as one of the architects, Ed has always displayed a diverse artistic approach to a scene and a culture that he deeply loves and respects. This exhibition honors that exact philosophy by using this iconic past to spark the creative future for the next generation.

To showcase this powerful, uncompromising vision, the exhibition features Exhibit A Gallery's signature "Detournements Series" concept. Edward Colver’s original, newly unearthed, unmodified analog photographs of Los Angeles history will hang directly alongside newly unveiled, mutated, revisioned, distorted, destroyed, and detourned versions of their photographic counterparts. Instead of treating these rare analog archives as precious, untouched artifacts, PLAY-GROUND ZERO treats these creative works as active substrates for a raw, tactile collaboration of creatives. A diverse collective, spanning from local street artists, renowned fine artists, legendary skateboarders, musicians, and counterculture weirdos, will all contribute their distinct creative visions to destroy and rebuild on Colver's compositions. The gallery layout allows the viewer to physically witness a direct line of succession: Colver's lens captured the initial hidden explosions of the city, and today's cross-genre subversives continue that fire by contributing their active visual confrontation to the exhibition. It is the ultimate tribute to Colver's true legacy, ensuring that the unpolished, rebellious soul of the underground remains dangerous, volatile, and entirely creatively uncompromised.

Rather than adhering to standard art world elitism, the roster for this exhibition will merge completely different worlds to bridge the generational and cultural divide, bringing the original creators and the new generation into the same arena.

Repeat, this isn't a retrospective look at a dead movement; it is a live, loud, and volatile collision showing that the fire Ed documented decades ago is still burning in the youth today. This event completely rejects the tired, predictable retro circuit.

CONFIRMED ARTISTS

ED COLVER (The original legendary southern california punk rock photographer) • SHEPARD FAIREY (iconic street artist / founder of obey giant / creator of the hope poster) • WINSTON SMITH (creator of dead kennedys dk logo & green day insomniac cover / legendary punk collage artist) • RIC CLAYTON (rxcx — iconic suicidal tendencies artist / dogtown skate illustrator) • JASON ADAMS (legendary pro skateboarder / fine art stencil master) • JAY WEINBERG (acclaimed contemporary oil painter / prolific heavy metal drummer & decade-long slipknot powerhouse / former suicidal tendencies & current fuming mouth drummer) • TIM BARRON (iconic birdhouse & tony hawk skateboard graphic artist / illustrator) • BART SARIC (founder of skater made / dogtown graphic artist / underground punk-skate filmmaker) • MARK DESALVO (legendary fat wreck chords & nofx album cover artist / painter) • CHRIS SHARY (official descendents artist / prolific punk rock illustrator) • KIM SAIGH (world-renowned fine artist / celebrated tattoo master from la ink) • JORDIN ISIP (acclaimed fine artist / illustrator for the new yorker & rolling stone) • LORI HERBST (celebrated fine artist / pioneer of hand-stitched textile vinyl portraits) • JANELLE BLARG (janelle hessig: legendary bay area underground cartoonist / founder of tales to terrify) • MATT LINEHAM (celebrated pop culture illustrator / creator of new wave & horror nostalgia art) • MARK TAVARES (renowned Hollywood monster character designer / special effects sculptor / painter) • ADAM MCCARTHY (creative art director / fine artist / dark subculture illustrator) • CHAD KEITH (acclaimed airbrush artist / official mastodon, qotsa & pantera illustrator) • FRANK WALLS (acclaimed dark fantasy illustrator / tabletop games artist / painter) • BRANDON HURLEY (contemporary fine artist / subculture painter) • THE CREEP CHRIS (chris densmore:  dark art specialist / underground painter) • CESAR MASSTURD (la underground fine artist / raw punk subculture creator) • RACHEL SATYA (horror & dark pop culture fine artist) • VIRUS (underground street artist / subculture visual creator) • JOSH ANGLE (emerging graphic designer / subculture visual artist) …and more

The full roster of participating global and local saboteurs is to be announced.

The opening night will feature live performances by young punk and hardcore bands, representing the current movement of the modern underground. The musicians, artists, and all involved who have been chosen to participate in this show are directly influenced by the very sounds, attitude, and visual grit that Ed Colver has had a part in cultivating from the 1970s and forward.

Additionally, the show will feature an exclusive, limited-edition signed zine titled "PLAY-GROUND ZERO," capturing the raw DIY cut-and-paste aesthetic of early flyer culture as a tangible artifact for collectors.

 "GUESTS MUST RSVP"