Presenting ten film works made in the 1970s, the exhibition explores the artist’s continued interest in language, word play, visual puns, comedy, and storytelling. The exhibition also includes some of the first examples of his collaborations with his dog Man Ray.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1970, Wegman’s work emerged within the context of Conceptualism as the movement formulated on the West Coast. Developing in response to the codified exploration of text and image that defined the movement’s East Coast practices, West Coast Conceptualism evolved a distinct visual language and approach. Central to the movement’s exploration was a grounding in absurdity, the vernacular, and humour. The artist has said of his video works: ‘when I first started working, I was really striving for clarity. What I liked about my videos was that my mother would like them, my neighbor would like them, anybody would like them. Whereas with other works of mine, you’d perhaps have to know something, be schooled in something. The videos just seemed to break through.’ Works on view propose irreverent considerations of the double-entendre, while others reveal Wegman’s engagement with established media, playfully critiquing the tone and commercialism of broadcasting, with deadpan deliveries of sales pitches and telemarketing.