Exene Cervenka: America the Beautiful [Pinspot #15]

America the Beautiful is published in conjunction with Exene Cervenkas first one person exhibition, at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, in the fall of 2005, curated by Kristine McKenna and Michael Duncan. An icon of Los Angeless seventies punk scene, Cervenka is known internationally for her work with the critically acclaimed band, X. Today she continues her musical career in solo performances and participation in such bands as The Knitters, Auntie Christ, and The Original Sinners. A visual and spoken word artist for more than thirty years, Cervenka has also published four volumes of poetry.

Included in America the Beautiful are images from nine journals selected from the collection of approximately one hundred Cervenka has completed over the past thirty-one years. Cervenkas journals combine rough drafts of songs and personal reflections rendered in a baroque calligraphic script, with photographs, drawings, and scraps of ephemera that she found while traveling as a musician. Similarly, Cervenkas collages several of which are featured hereare created from found materials to form an interpretative composite portrait of the country shes come to know through her life experiences on the road.

32 pages, Softcover, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, 2005