A Manhattan Beach Memoir: 1945-2015

Blue Star Contemporary presents, Manhattan Beach Memoir, featuring artist Gary Sweeney. 

In early 2016, artist Gary Sweeney created his site-specific installation, “A Manhattan Beach Memoir: 1945-2015” to commemorate his family home. In 1945, while Sweeney’s father Mike was returning from Guam after World War II, his mother Anita bought a small house at 320 35th St in Manhattan Beach, California. It was their family home for 70 years. Sweeney sold the house in July 2015, with the understanding that the new owner planned to demolish the house and put a new development in its place. As a tribute to his family, hometown, and father’s photography, Sweeney covered the exterior of the house with over one hundred large-scale family photographs and occupied the house during its final month February 2016.

For this exhibition, the artist resites the photographs and relics from the Sweeney home in the gallery and gives viewers the chance to connect to this unique project. The work encourages us to reflect on the significance of our family histories and its documentation as a critical player in the architecture of our memory.

The exhibit runs June 7 – September 9, 2018.