Punk Performers & Theories Of Ideology ('Punk Mass' 1970 - )

* The Minnesotan punk bands that have garnered the most interest outside state lines are very different from each other. Minnesota was visited by many artists in the late 1970s / early 1980s, some of whom were keen to investigate the talent pool being tapped by Twin/Tone Records. Musician, actor and artist John Lurie (of New York outfit Lounge Lizards) is from Minneapolis. Lurie's been painting since the 1970s and his artworks have been the centrepiece of some major exhibitions this century. He understands Minnesota's deep-rooted relations with clownery and long-held traditions in abstract fiction and has spoken about this in New York.

* Candy enthusiast Kay Kurt is from Dubuque, an industrial city in Iowa. Her art explores industry and manufacturing through confection and has been adopted by some punks as satirical of the perils of mass consumerism they were railing against. Kurt studied painting at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, then moved to Duluth in Minnesota which has been her home since 1969.

* Ann Walsh has established herself as perhaps the leading colour block artist of her generation, her rise to prominence coinciding with the emergence of Minnesota hardcore in the early 1980s. Like Piet Mondrian and Anne Truitt before her, Walsh has developed her own unique style through sculpture, panelling and colour blocking.