Bruce Conner

Bruce Conner: Roz Makes a Giant Step for Mankind: Negative Trend, January 23, 1978; black-and-white photograph; 9 7/8 x 13 1/8 in.; courtesy of the artist.

In 1978, artist and filmmaker Bruce Conner, a key figure in the Bay Area avant-garde since the fifties, set out to document a new avant-garde: the punk scene then exploding into life in San Francisco. He had recently discovered the Mabuhay Gardens, the seedy Filipino nightclub turned punk venue on Broadway; there he met the publisher V. Vale, who invited Conner to contribute to his new magazine Search and Destroy. Conner offered to photograph shows at the Mab. “I had always liked the idea of action photos,” he said later. “Like—sports events. . . . Or combat photography. . . . Maybe I could work on that here.”

In fall 2007, the Berkeley Art Museum acquired a group of these dynamic and spontaneous yet tightly composed images, which capture now-legendary bands like the Avengers, Negative Trend, and the Mutants in action, along with many other acts and fans who passed through the Mabuhay. BAM/PFA already held several important works by Conner, including films, assemblages, and works on paper; these two portfolios, printed in 1985 and 2004, bring a new dimension of this artist’s work into the collection, and preserve a vital Bay Area moment. Who knew Penelope Houston, Will Shatter, and the rest would end up in a museum?