The Cool School

How do you build an art scene from scratch? How do you balance the contradictions of money and purity in the messy art world? How do you make art matter? Toward the end of 1956, med-school dropout Walter Hopps met artist Ed Kienholz for lunch at a hot dog stand on La Cienega Blvd and the Ferus Gallery was born. At that moment, Los Angeles was a cultural dust bowl, but from its arrival, Ferus brought together disparate people interested in making art for art’s sake —namely bohemians, surfers, beatniks and students. By the time of it closed in 1966, the gallery had also played a role in solidifying the careers of many of New York’s brightest lights: Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Frank Stella, Robert Rauschenberg, and Jasper Johns.