Late last year Exene Cervenka—the X/Knitters vocalist—published a book, Magical Meteorite Songwriting Device (Perceval Press), containing her visual collages to great acclaim. Fans of X have been familiar with her work for some time, as her collages have appeared on the group’s record sleeves. Now Exene is set to mount a gallery exhibition of her images in Los Angeles, from June 9 – 14, at Culver City’s Western Project, having previously had successful showings in 2005 at the Santa Monical Museum of Art and in 2006 at NYC’s DCKT Contemporary Art and Miami’s Basel Art Fair.

Exene’s artwork is described as “multi-layered collages revolving around her obsessions and fears, and the beauty she perceives in unlikely places. Cartoons and vintage postcards, cocktail napkins from shabby bars, crass advertisements and religious iconography, playing cards and cheap souvenirs—a world of forlorn discards are resurrected and given a final resting place in her art.” She currently lives in Missouri where she’s involved full-time as an artist (X and the Knitters are still ongoing concerns, however), working out of a converted barn at the home she shares with her husband of five years, Jason Edge (of the Original Sinners).

Perceval Press publisher Viggo Mortensen noted in a statement, “Having admired Exene's drawings, paintings and collage work for a long time, I was glad to see her success with recent exhibitions in Santa Monica and in New York City, and to see that she is continuing to create and show new work this year. Aside from the graphic work she has provided for X records and merchandise over the years, these exhibitions have for the first time given the public a chance to see first-hand this side of her rich creative output. It did not surprise me that those shows were so well received, nor that her work sold so readily. As with her songwriting, poetry, music, and personal style, she has again proven to be a unique and forward-looking artist. We at Perceval Press were proud to be allowed to reproduce and present her collages for Magical Meteorite Songwriting Device. It is one of our most handsome and popular artist's publications, and I hope that it will help Exene's artwork gain a deservedly greater audience.”

Among some of the critical kudos for Exene:

“Cervenka’s collage sensibility mirrors the beauty and humor she brought to X. Like punk, which was birthed by non-musicians deciding to make music anyway, Cervenka’s work is folk art in the truest sense—unexpected, unschooled and resourcefully pieced together from cast-away cultural ephemera in the name of love, not money.” —Los Angeles Times

“Her public career, from the beginning in 1977 upon the formation of the seminal Los Angeles punk band X, has been defined by a healthy irreverence for boundaries between art, literature, music, poetry, fashion, and performance art. Cervenka has been credited in popular culture for insinuating the vintage-gothic-dolly fashion so enthusiastically… Exene Cervenka has lost none of her drive to express, create, and move forward musically, artistically, and, as evidenced by her soulful collages, personally.” —Popmatters.com

For more details contact the Western Project (3830 Main Street, Culver City CA 90232) at 310-838-0609, or at the the Western Project website.

Exene is also performing selected musical dates this spring:

April 27, 2007
Avalon Theatre
Easton MD

May 1, 2007
Birchmere
Alexandria VA

May 2, 2007
Gramercy Theatre
NYC NY

May 3, 2007
Paradise Rock Club
Boston MA

May 18, 2007
Getty Center
Los Angeles CA

May 19, 2007
Great American Music Hall
San Francisco CA

July 13 , 2007
The Pacific Amphitheatre
Costa Mesa CA
w/ Willie Nelson