EXENE CERVENKA
Singer, songwriter, poet, and artist Exene Cervenka is back on the road performing with X, the pioneering punk rock band she cofounded with vocalist/bassist/songwriter John Doe, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Billy Zoom, and drummer DJ Bonebrake in 1976. Decades-long creative partnerships are rare in rock music, yet in 2020 forty years after Los Angeles, their acclaimed 1980 debut album, the group released Alphabetland, a powerful album of new songs featuring all four original members. Ken Tucker, music critic for NPR’s Fresh Air, wrote, “X, the greatest Los Angeles band to emerge from punk rock, is back… The new material doesn’t have a trace of nostalgia or a slackening of intensity.” 
Throughout her career, Cervenka’s strong artistic drive has drawn her to a wide range of creative projects. Adulterers Anonymous, the first of four books of poetry written with singer/poet Lydia Lunch, was published in 1982. That same year, she formed the country/rockabilly/folk group the Knitters, with Doe, Bonebrake, and guitarist Dave Alvin. Their debut album, Poor Little Knitter on the Road, was released in 1985 and featured traditional folk, country, and blues tunes, along with acoustic versions of a few X songs. Her art has been shown in the Santa Monica Museum of Art, DCKT Contemporary in New York, and in galleries throughout Los Angeles and elsewhere. In 1989, Cervenka recorded Old Wives’ Tales, the first of six solo albums she would put out by 2011. 
MAD.KAT Gallery is excited to have Exene’s artwork on show in SOUND & VISION 2025.
Exene, The Hero, 17" x 21", Mixed Media Collage, 2024, Framed w/ Museum Glass, $2000
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