Art show explores sci-fi, the occult and queer history in mid-20th century LA

Paintings of guardian angels, early gender-fluid cosplay and illustrations of spaceships streaking across a starry expanse.

Those are some of the images visitors will experience at a new exhibition at USC that looks at the connections between science fiction, the occult and the LGBTQ+ community in Los Angeles.

The art show, called Sci-Fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation, focuses on the period between 1930 and 1960 and pulls from private collections and USC’s ONE archive — the largest collection of LGBTQ+ materials in the world.

The show will run Aug. 22 - Nov. 23 at USC’s Fisher Museum of Art.

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Organizers say it provides a window into alternate realities dreamed up by queer artists who were looking for respite from oppressive cultural norms.

“Science fiction is imagining things like a rocket ship, but we don’t make it yet... and it eventually becomes a reality,” said Alexis Bard Johnson, the lead curator of the exhibit and curator of the ONE Archives at USC Libraries.

“I think there was hope in that structure that other things in society could also change.”

Jim Kepner, cover of "Toward Tomorrow" No. 2, June, 1944

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Courtesy ONE Archives at the USC Libraries

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What you’ll see there

The exhibit features works by Morris Scott Dollens, Marjorie Cameron, Curtis Harrington and other notable artists, writers and filmmakers.

A prolific artist, Dollens sold hundreds of paintings at science fiction conventions. He also produced homoerotic photomontages of the male figure, which will be on display at the exhibit.

Johnson, the curator, said she was struck by the amount of science fiction artwork and ephemera that Jim Kepner, a journalist and gay rights leader, amassed throughout his life. Within that collection were images of partially nude male bodies juxtaposed with spaceships streaking through black space, a black-and-white illustration of a bikini-wearing man standing in ancient jungle ruins and several pieces by Dollens.

“Science fiction fandom and the world of publishing offered a platform and community for queers of all kinds,” Johnson wrote in an essay titled, "The Kepner File: Queer Art and Science Fiction Fandom."

The exhibition also includes several artworks by Cameron, a self-professed witch and L.A. occultist who was married to pioneering rocket scientist Jack Parsons.

As an actress and visual artist, Cameron’s creativity threads through the work of filmmaker Curtis Harrington. Harrington’s video portrait of Cameron, "The Wormwood Star," stands as the only visual record of many of the works she would later burn.

"The Wormwood Star" will also be on view at the show.

"Holy Guardian Angel According to Alesiter Crowley" by Cameron

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Courtesy USC

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Cameron’s piece, "Holy Guardian Angel According to Alesiter Crowley," will be on view at the exhibit, as well as her drawings of Parsons.

In a companion essay to the exhibition, art historian Kelly Filreis referred to Cameron as a "visionary."

“Her influence attests to how deeply the supernatural is intertwined within the histories of transgressive sexualities and alternative spiritualities in Southern California,” Filreis wrote.

What to know before you go

The Fisher Museum of Art is located on the USC campus at 823 Exposition Blvd. in Los Angeles.

Admission to the museum is free.

A catalogue to the exhibit , which includes the essay noted above, is available for purchase.