Join us for a special double walkthrough at the Skirball Cultural Center featuring two compelling exhibitions led by the artists and curators themselves.
CalArts School of Art Graphic Design faculty member Michael Worthington will lead a tour of the exhibition Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976–86, alongside his co-curator, Cate Thurston. Robert Russell (Art MFA 06) and Lisa Edelstein will guide attendees through Robert Russell and Lisa Edelstein: A Palace in Time.
Following the walkthroughs, attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in conversation with the presenters about their shows.
Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976–86 at the Skirball Cultural Center highlight the stories of Jewish punks and fellow travelers including Malcolm McLaren, plus members of the Ramones, the Circle Jerks, the Dictators, Bad Religion, Blondie, Suicide, Jonathan Richman, the Patti Smith Group, and more. By centering these narratives within the broader story of punk, the exhibition underscores how artists from many communities helped shape a movement that continues to challenge norms around identity, power, and belonging.
Featuring more than 500 objects and pieces of ephemera, Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels, and Weirdos brings this history into sharp focus—from handmade flyers, zines, buttons, and posters to early clothing by fashion designers Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren. These iconic garments, alongside video, audio, photographs and other artifacts, anchor visitors in the visual and material world of punk while opening space for lesser-known stories.
Drawing inspiration from renowned philosopher and theologian Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s description of the Sabbath as a sacred moment set apart from the everyday—a palace in time—this exhibition brings together new paintings by Los Angeles-based artists and married partners Russell and Edelstein. Their work holds up moments and memories of joy and loss, which are ever-present in Jewish family traditions and community gatherings.Â
Michael Worthington is the founding partner of Counterspace (Los Angeles), a graphic design studio specializing in editorial and identity work for cultural clients.Â
His book designs include Cyberpunk, Problems and Provocations, Drawing Ambience, Made in L.A., and More Real, as well as catalogues for Paul Pfeiffer, Mark Bradford, William Leavitt, Amanda Ross-Ho, Dan Graham, Mona Hatoum and Allora & Calzadilla. His work has been published widely and exhibited in Belgium, Italy, England, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Japan, France, China and the US, and he has lectured in Korea, Belgium, Holland, Australia, England, France, Mexico and across America.Â
He has been a judge for the California Design Biennial, Output, the AIGA and the ADC and curated the design show Two Lines Align at REDCAT. His writing has been published in Eye, Print, Slanted, and Threaded magazines, and various design books, including Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires and Riots: California and Graphic Design 1936-86. He curated and designed the exhibition Torn Apart: Punk + New Wave Graphics, Fashion & Culture, 1976–86 at PDC Los Angeles, SMU Dallas, and Orlando Museum of Art, and designed, edited, and published the accompanying catalogue.
Michael runs the Graphic Design Poster Archive at CalArts, he designed, edited and published the book Inside Out & Upside Down: Posters from CalArts 1980–2019, and curated the accompanying exhibition at REDCAT. His online graphic design and UI/UX courses on Coursera have over a million learners from around the world. He has taught at the California Institute of the Arts since 1995.
Robert Russell (Art MFA 06) is a conceptual painter whose work returns to ideas of memory, iconography, and mortality in a personal painting language that treats ordinary objects—cups, books, figurines, candles— as vessels of history and ritual. Working in a subdued palette and precise contemplative approach, he explores how images can be sanctified by attention: how repetition, gesture, and witness can transform the mass-produced form into a site of devotion. Russell completed his MFA at the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA and his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. He has had solo exhibitions at galleries including Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles; The Cabin, Los Angeles; Burrard Arts Foundation, Vancouver, B.C., Canada; LAXART (currently The Brick), Los Angeles; François Ghebaly, Los Angeles; Big Pond Artworks, Munich, Germany; and OSMOS Station, Stamford, NY. His work has been exhibited in group shows including Roberts Projects, Los Angeles; MATERIAL Press MOCA LA, Los Angeles; M+B, Los Angeles; Honor Fraser Gallery, Los Angeles; Vielmetter Los Angeles; and GAVLAK, Palm Beach, FL. Russell lives and works in Los Angeles.
Lisa Edelstein (b. 1966, Boston, MA) mines images inspired by her own Jewish family history, transforming discarded snap shots into colorful paintings of a fading past. Largely unposed and caught off-guard, Edelstein’s compositions connect her interest in storytelling across various avenues of her artistic practice—painting, writing, and acting. Her intimate works are filled with tenderness as they transport the viewer to a different time and the jumble of personalities and physical spaces that bring a family to life. Through the lens of both the female and Jewish gaze, the artist draws you in, welcoming you into her family while also holding a mirror up to your own. Edelstein studied experimental theatre at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before leaving to work as an actress, writer, and filmmaker, eventually expanding her practice to painting. Her work has been exhibited at Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles; A Hug From the Art World, New York; SFA Projects, New York; GAVLAK, New York and Palm Beach, FL; and VSG Contemporary, Chicago. Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Edelstein lives and works in Los Angeles and is represented by Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles.
