Various Small Fires Los Angeles will host a “sorta” memorial and exhibition of works by Billy Al Bengston (b. 1934 – d. 2022) opening July 1, 2023. Featuring an abundant feast of Bengston’s circa 1980’s Kahuna and Pa’ Pepa watercolor collages and paintings surrounding the artist’s 1971 installation Lumberjack Luncheon, this “sorta” memorial is an exhibition of works spanning the 1970’s, 80’s, and 90’s and ode to the artist’s generous, joy-filled, and irreverent approach to life and art.
In 1971, LA Times food writer Rose Dosti approached Bengston for a story about young, local celebrities and artists who enjoyed cooking. Bengston found the proposition somewhat dull but was not eager to turn down the chance to have a little fun. He presented Dosti and notably cantankerous photographer, Mary Frampton, with a pine-sap perfumed lunch menu suited more to termites than human tastes. Hammered together in a very short time, Lumberjack Luncheon includes grainy delights like plank steak, mixed dust soup, standing log roast with aspen chips, and a bottle of retsina to wash it all down. Frampton was unamused and refused to photograph the work, leading to a lively verbal showdown with Bengston on the subject of professional integrity; Dosti was delighted, describing the lunch as “absolutely divine… not only a sculpture in its own right but an artistic performance, in costume and everything.”[1] The work went on to be included in exhibitions at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the MoCA Annex at the Pacific Design Center, and most recently in 2009 at the Samuel Freeman Gallery. When not on offer to select guests in an exhibition context, the luncheon is semi-permanently installed in Bengston’s home and studio in Venice, CA.
A selection from Bengston’s circa 1980’s Kahuna and Pa’Pepa works surround the welcoming and fragrant table. In 1979, Bengston purchased a studio in Oahu, Honolulu and began to split time between his Venice Beach studio and “Hono.
