In turning away from the New York art establishment, artists like Ed Ruscha, David Hockney and Judy Chicago did the groundwork for a flourishing L.A. scene.By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp, Special to the Los Angeles TimesEven for legendary decades of change, the 1960s stands out, its impact felt around the world but especially in the Los Angeles art world. The '60s is the point when a number of factors converged that would transform L.A. from just another place that ambitious artists left when they moved to New York into a distinct and thriving art scene in its own right. At midcentury, as World War II was fading from immediate memory, the art associated with that traumatic period, Abstract Expressionism, had become the powerful and entrenched aesthetic. Especially in New York...[continued]
