Punk at the Skirball

Jenny Lens, Screamers at a Bus Bench, Los Angeles, April 1997

The Skirball Cultural Center might seem an unlikely venue for a show on Punk music and culture. In fact, many of the key figures of Punk were Jewish. That's one animating thread of the Skirball's "Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976–86." Music, much less a zeitgeist, can be difficult to capture in a museum show. But Punk was also a visual medium that emphasized do-it-yourself logos, flyers, and (analog) memes. "Outsiders" is thus a big, highly retinal show with more than 500 posters, zines, photographs, buttons, and items of clothing. 

Installation view with costumes by Vivian Westwood and Malcolm McLaren

Two of the four Ramones (Joey and Tommy) were Jewish

As the Skirball tells the story, New York was the wellspring of Punk, prioritizing Situationist-style performance over musical chops. Punk crossed the Atlantic to London, where it resonated with a youth culture disillusioned by 70s stagflation and the rise of Thatcher-era conservatism. In London Punk became more political and angry. Media coverage spread it to Los Angeles and Washington. All four cities' scenes are treated successively in the exhibition. 

Posters for London Punk

Map of Los Angeles Punk clubs

Raymond Pettibon, The Author Is a Medium

The greatest visual artists to come out of Punk were from L.A., among them Mike Kelley and Jim Shaw. They formed the supergroup Destroy All Monsters at the University of Michigan and Cal Arts. Raymond Pettibon was brother to Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn. Pettibon devised the Black Flag name—opposite of white flag, as in surrender—and functioned as the band's brandmeister. His wryly literary zines, never intended to illustrate Punk or anyone's music, jump-started his art career. 

Post-Punk artists

Punk was about not selling out. Until it wasn't. Amplified by MTV, second and third generations of New Wave and Post-Punk artists—among them, the Talking Heads, Elvis Costello, the Go-Gos, David Bowie, and Nirvana—achieved the commercial success that Punk 1 never did. Many of these performers had musical training and were viewed with suspicion by the Punk base. 

Jenny Lens, consummate photographer of the Punk scene, had an MFA from Cal Arts. In her iconic photo of The Screamers at a Hollywood bus bench (top of post), the elderly woman really was waiting for a bus. "Violent World" is a Screamers song.

"Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos" is at the Skirball through Sep. 6. 2026.

Punk buttons