Joseph Bellows Gallery is presenting an online exhibition titled "Gary Krueger: (Re)Discoveries," showcasing a new collection of photographs from the artist's archives. These vintage photographs reveal a world that is sometimes frenzied, often strange, and fragmented, capturing images taken primarily in Los Angeles, California, between the mid-to-late 1970s.
Krueger's curiosity and instinct helped him create a remarkable body of street photography work, which he describes as "instantaneous juxtapositions of life." His photographs document the unique character and atmosphere of Los Angeles during a transformative period in the city's history, presenting viewers with glimpses of urban life through his distinctive artistic lens.
After graduating from high school in 1963, Gary Krueger (born 1945) took his 1954 Ford and drove west from Cleveland, Ohio, to study graphic design and photography at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles from 1964 to 1967. Chouinard, which later became Cal Arts, was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney orchestrated the merger of Chouinard and the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music to create the California Institute of the Arts.
Among Chouinard's notable alumni were Ed Ruscha, Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Joe Goode, and Allen Ruppersberg, with whom Krueger collaborated on narrative photographs, including "23 Pieces" (1969) and "24 Pieces" (1970). These collaborations helped establish Krueger's reputation in the contemporary art photography scene and demonstrated his ability to work within conceptual frameworks while maintaining his distinctive visual style.
After graduating from Chouinard, Krueger was hired by WED, Disney's "Imagineering" division, to photograph the park and its events. This position provided him with valuable professional experience and technical expertise in commercial photography. He eventually left WED to pursue a successful career as a commercial and editorial photographer, building a reputation for his technical precision and artistic vision.
Peter Plagens, writing in a review of the "Southern California: Attitudes 1972" exhibition presented by ARTFORUM in 1973 at the Pasadena Art Museum, praised Krueger's work, stating: "Gary Krueger's simple, classic photographs—small, sturdy, and sharp—are good reportage, of great purity. Baldessari's 'Fables' and Krueger's pragmatic photos brilliantly contrast with the relaxed and harmonious side of both exhibitions."
Krueger's work is represented in several prestigious institutions, including the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Joseph Bellows Gallery is located at 7661 Girard Ave., La Jolla, CA 92037, and more information can be found at www.josephbellows.com.
