If people were paintings, Exene Cervenka might be a Picasso line drawing. In conversation, as in her considerable body of work, a founding member of X expresses herself concisely, every thought contributing to a larger picture that could come only from her.
And like the Spanish artist, Cervenka has transitioned successfully through a variety of career phases, starting with her stint in X, the band that perhaps best embodied the character of L.A.'s punk subculture of the early '80s. She moved on to the rootsy folk-country side project the Knitters with other members of X and the Blasters, then launched a solo career that included spoken-word performances of her own writings.
In the last decade, she started taking her interest in visual art seriously to the point of regularly exhibiting in galleries around the country.
A recent diagnosis of multiple sclerosis has done little to slow her creative output, but it is one factor that has figured into her return to Southern California after four years spent living in rural Missouri.
"I'm back," she said between sips of iced tea at the funky Filling Station Cafe, a former gas station in Orange's Old Towne district, which is now filled with historic turn-of-the-century homes, antique shops and vintage clothing stores.
"It's fantastic," she said of life in the land of Mark Twain. "It was something I wanted to do my whole life: move to the middle of nowhere and live in the country."
In one sense, she was escaping the big city rat race, but the move also served her artistic life. It was in Missouri that she wrote and recorded all the songs on her new solo album, "Somewhere Gone," released today.
"I've always believed this as an artist, that the best way to create is in a vacuum," she said.
Not that she considers the Midwest a vacuum, but by exiting a hive of activity like Los Angeles, she felt better able to act from within, rather than react to what was going on around her.
"That time in Missouri for me was like the punk days again in a weird way, even though there wasn't a scene. I was isolated, and I think your art is more pure, and I think that's true for visual art and music when you create that way.
"I think that's why the punk scene was so incredibly strong, because it was ignored," she said. "There was no MTV, there was no radio . . . . and it flourished because of that."
