Stray Cat by Michael Duncan

Stray Cat by Michael Duncan

This exhibition surveys the work of outsider artist Ed Newell, who devised an original style evocative of Pop Art years before the movement caught on.

Stray Cat presents the work of Ed Newell (1940-1981), an enigmatic artist whose highly individual paintings emerged from the bohemian world of Venice Beach in the 1960s and '70s. Largely self-taught, Newell developed a distinctive visual language that combines stylized forms, proto-Pop sensibilities, and scenes of everyday life with an unmistakable outsider-art quality.

This publication explores Newell's brief but compelling artistic career and the environment that shaped it. Living in abandoned buildings, cars, doorways, and basements, he became part of the unconventional artist community of Venice Beach. His paintings range from stylized cats to views of the Venice canals, revealing both his keen draftsmanship and his distinctive response to the changing landscape and culture of the neighborhood.