A very special thank you to Mickey McGowan for making this exhibition possible. See “Recollections… from the Unknown Museum” on display, post-security, in Terminal 2. https://t.co/4G3SzOmcrE
#UnknownMuseum#MickeyMcGowan#BayArea#BayAreaHistoryThis tweet was posted on June 27, 2023.
In 1973, McGowan began collaborating with artist-friend Dickens “44” Bascom (b. 1944), and they opened the Unknown Museum the following year. When Bascom moved overseas, McGowan continued as “resident curator” of the #UnknownMuseum—a position he still holds today. #MickeyMcGowanThis tweet was posted on June 27, 2023.
McGowan started collecting as a boy, nailing bottlecaps to plywood and beachcombing for items that he attached to boards as assemblages. He moved north of San Francisco to Sausalito in 1969, and during the 1970s he made art shoes under the pseudonym Apple Cobbler. #UnknownMuseumThis tweet was posted on June 27, 2023.
Artist, curator, and archivist Mickey McGowan (b. 1946) grew up in LA surrounded by experimental art and fashion, live beatnik jazz and rock ‘n’ roll music, surfing, hot rodding, and other elements of Southern California’s booming, pop-cultural scene #UnknownMuseumThis tweet was posted on June 27, 2023.
Formally opened in December 1974, the Unknown Museum became a center of local creativity, rotating its own exhibitions, displaying the work of other artists, and hosting concerts and themed events. The museum continues as a private museum and lending archives. #UnknownMuseumThis tweet was posted on May 19, 2023.
McGowan & Bascom created art and installations in a large room that allowed for mass assemblages and the “assault of the objects” on one’s senses. McGowan stated, “curating the museum allowed me to present my ‘two-cents-worth’ reactions to postwar American culture" #UnknownMuseumThis tweet was posted on May 19, 2023.
Our newest exhibition, “Recollections… from the Unknown Museum” is now on display in Terminal 2! An “exploration into America’s brain,” the Unknown Museum was founded by artist, curator, and archivist Mickey McGowan and artist Dickens “44” Bascom in Mill Valley. #UnknownMuseumThis tweet was posted on May 19, 2023.