The late artist Noah Purifoy spent the last 15 years of his life in the Mojave desert, creating huge sculptures made of junked materials. Purifoy was also a big figure in L.A., as a founding director of the Watts Towers Art Center. Before moving to the desert, he was most well-known for a sculpture constructed from charred debris from the 1965 Watts Rebellion. That was the basis for 66 Signs of Neon, a landmark group exhibition about the riots that traveled to nine venues between 1966 and 1969. Now, the L.A. County Museum of Art has brought Purifoy’s more recent, remarkable, large-scale works out of the desert sun and inside for Angelenos to see. Madeleine takes you inside for a sneak preview.
