At Moore College, the art of punk

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Any music fan who ventured to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for last year's "Punk: Chaos to Couture" exhibit had to be dismayed to find the galvanic youth rebellion of the 1970s reduced to a high-fashion co-optation of punk's do-it-yourself aesthetic. Not to mention that silly art-installation facsimile of the grungy CBGB bathroom.

But take heart, fans of the Clash, Ramones, and Sex Pistols, as well as the Cramps, Dead Boys, Circle Jerks, Buzzcocks, Blondie, Patti Smith, the Jam, X-Ray Spex, and so many more. "Pretty Vacant: The Graphic Language of Punk," the terrific exhibition that opened last week at the galleries at Moore College of Art and Design, is a joyously snot-nosed corrective.

"Pretty Vacant," which takes its name from a song on the Sex Pistols' 1977 debut, gathers more than 400 posters, flyers, fanzines, badges, and album art covers. It runs until March 15, and admission to the exhibition and the weekly film series, which begins with Julien Temple's The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle on Feb. 13, is free.

It's all drawn from the collection of New York punk aficionado Andrew Krivine, whose passion was kindled in 1977 when he spent a formative summer in London hanging around BOY, a boutique owned by his cousin a stone's throw from Seditionaries, Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's shop that served as Sex Pistols headquarters.

"It made me feel alive," said 53-year-old Krivine, who was at Moore for the "Pretty Vacant" opening.

He lights up when he talks about seeing bands like the Adverts and Generation X: "I had no clue that I was witnessing history at the time. The mid-'70s was a pretty dark period for music, I think. I really didn't like prog-rock and all the excesses of the era. I didn't know punk until I heard it. When I did, it opened up my eyes."

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