Irreverent, bawdy, the lowest of the low. The 1960s arts scene in Northern California was, according to art historian Peter Selz, defined by its free-spirited “regional attitude.” Distance from and disdain for New York’s art world, with its consumerism-obsessed Pop Art and arts criticism culture, offered artists the freedom to explore unconventional avenues for making art. This regional spirit drew a network of innovative artists—from those linked to California’s Funk and Nut art, to Chicago’s Hairy Who and other regional artists—to the Central Valley and a small Folsom, California gallery called the Candy Store. Adeliza McHugh’s Candy Store Gallery became a site of convergence and exchange for these interregional artists, their colleagues, and their students. The result was an unintentional yet provocative alternative to lauded art movements of the time. 

Nuts and Who’s: A Candy Store Sampler focuses on this cross-fertilization of ideas between Funk, Nut, and the Hairy Who in the Bay Area, and their intersection at the Candy Store Gallery from 1968 to 1985. These artists’ introduction into the region gave rise to a potent artistic culture that resonated with artists from across the United States, who sought to transgress the establishment. Drawn primarily from SJMA’s permanent collection, the exhibition brings together works by many artists who contributed to this “regional attitude” at the Candy Store, including Robert Arneson, Luis Cruz Azaceta, Clayton Bailey, John Buck, Roy De Forest, David Gilhooly, Irving Marcus, Tony Natsoulas, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Maija Peeples-Bright, Peter VandenBerge, William T. Wiley, Franklin Williams, Karl Wirsum, and others. 

Support

Nuts and Who’s: A Candy Store Sampler is supported by the SJMA Exhibitions Fund, with generous support from Toby and Barry Fernald.

Operations and programs at the San José Museum of Art are made possible by principal support from SJMA’s Board of Trustees, a Cultural Affairs Grant from the City of San José, and the Lipman Family Foundation; by lead support from the Adobe Foundation, Toby and Barry Fernald, Brook Hartzell and Tad Freese, the Richard A. Karp Charitable Foundation, Tammy and Tom Kiely, Kimberly and Patrick Lin, Sally Lucas, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Skyline Foundation, and the SJMA Director's Council and Council of 100; and with significant endowment support from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the San José Museum of Art Endowment Fund established by the Knight Foundation at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

Press

11 Art Shows to See in the Bay Area this Fall, KQED
August 23, 2023

The Contagious Joy of Maija Peeples-Bright’s Animal-Filled World, KQED
September 11, 2023

Exhibitions–October issue, Maine Antique Digest
September 19, 2023