Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Robert Irwin grew up in southwest Los Angeles, attending high school in the mid-forties. He attributes his easy sense of well-being at least in part to that experience. Most of his colleagues at the Ferus Gallery—L.A.'s funky, avant-garde community of artists—grew up in similar backgrounds. It was an artistically rich place in which to grow up. Irwin can spot a southern Californian in any place in the world, from Michigan to Europe; they just have an easy, free-wheeling way of dealing with life. They can have instantaneous and intimate conversations with total strangers. Though they may not have much in the way of material wealth, they look at the world as their oyster just waiting to give them all the pearls they want. There is nothing Irwin likes more than cruising around L.A. at...