Ferus Gallery

Billy Al Bengston is part of a group exhibition at the Ferus Gallery.

Barney’s Beanery, a popular West Hollywood bar, is an important source of community for Billy Al Bengston, Joe Goode, Jerry McMillan, and Ed Ruscha, as well as others who show at the Ferus Gallery.

Roy De Forest exhibits in two group shows at the Ferus Gallery with Billy Al Bengston.

Billy Al Bengston has solo exhibitions at the Ferus Gallery.

Ed Ruscha has solo exhibitions at the Ferus Gallery.

Bruce Conner has a solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in June.

Larry Bell has solo exhibitions at the Ferus Gallery.

Larry Bell, Billy Al Bengston, and Ed Ruscha are included in a group show at the Ferus Gallery.

Billy Al Bengston, Robert Irwin, Ed Moses, and Ken Price are included in the Ferus Gallery’s Studs exhibition.

Dennis Hopper takes pictures of some of the “Ferus gang,” with whom he is friendly.

Ed Ruscha has a solo exhibition at the Ferus Gallery. At the opening he meets actor Dennis Hopper, whose 1961 photograph Double Standard, taken on the corner of Santa Monica Blvd and Melrose Avenue through his car windshield, is used in the show’s announcement. Hopper buys Standard Station, Amarillo Texas (1963), which was featured in the exhibition. After the opening, Hopper and Ruscha become lifelong friends.

Under the pseudonym Eddie Russia, Ruscha assumes the role of art director for Artforum, which moves from San Francisco to Los Angeles in 1965 and rents a space above the Ferus Gallery. Ruscha remains the art director two years after the publication moves to New York from Los Angeles.

Judy Chicago watches Billy Al Bengston race motorcycles and hangs out with the “Ferus gang” at Barney’s Beanery, although she acknowledges the machismo of the crew.