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PHRANC: The Butch Closet


  • Craig Krull Gallery 2525 Michigan Avenue Santa Monica, CA, 90404 United States (map)

Phranc: The Butch Closet is a multi-disciplinary installation that spans over 40 years of Phranc’s life as a queer artist, Jewish Lesbian Folksinger and Cardboard Cobbler. Building on her performance Phranc Talk, which explores the development of Phranc’s butch persona, this exhibition contextualizes the artist’s experience as a trailblazing performer and maker, constructing and reconstructing her image against a larger historical context of second wave feminism and queer activism — all the way from lesbian separatism through the ongoing evolution of gender identity. 

By meticulously re-creating such personal objects as Phranc’s Baby Quilt and Lamb Chop Halloween Costume out of paper, cardboard, thread, and found materials, Phranc explores complex and layered aspects of memory, personal history and nostalgia. These handcrafted objects illustrate the narrative arc of her life set against the artistic, musical and revolutionary scenes in L.A. (feminist art, punk rock, surfing, and queer communities) that she was an integral part of and witness to, from the 1960s to the present. The Butch Closet brings together Phranc’s art, music and personal archive at a pivotal moment in queer history when we are claiming our past and by doing so securing our future.

Artist Talk & Performance:
Saturday, November 4, 3pm.

Gallery Hours:
Tuesday - Friday, 10:00am - 5:30pm
Saturday, 11:00am - 5:30pm

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October 17

Wearing It On Our Sleeves: Darlyn Susan Yee

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October 21

The Length of Our Days and Other Works in Textiles