Until the mid-1960s video production had been exclusively the domain of broadcast television, largely because of the enormous expense and literal size of the equipment as well as the need for elaborate studios for live transmission as well as recorded programming. However, in 1967 the introduction of consumer video recorders (largely from Japan), radically changed access to video recording.​

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The decade of 1970s gave rise to the proliferation of the Portapak (small portable, half-inch reel-to-reel, video recorders), which engendered an era of vibrant experimentation seen in initial artist’s videos. These early years of analog, small format B&W video for the first time provided groups of independent videographers and artists access the means of video production, yet the initial price-tag still rendered that access relatively rare.

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As an analog medium, the processes both production and post-production maintained a distinctly fluid dynamic. This was particularly prevalent in reel-to-reel editing techniques, which required magnetic transfer of the signal from a “player” to a separate “editing recorder”. This was achieved by a variety of back-spacing techniques of then running the two machines simultaneously to a precise point, then punching the record button - on the fly. The timing of an edit could be seen in effect – as a performative act. Arduous as this editing process was – its practitioners viewed this as a significant breakthrough, which in these early years produced distinctly different and unique content from filmmaking.

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Historically, this early video period was marked by a series of seminal group exhibitions. As museums and audiences began to assess the new art form, these exhibitions provide testament to video’s qualities as separate from experimental film, due in large part to its immediacy and live transmission qualities yet allied with many of film’s time-based aspects.

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John Sturgeon’s black & white videos were selected for a number of these early group exhibitions. His 1974 video works were exhibited in: 1975 Biennal of Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; 1975 Arts Council of Great Britain, The Video Show, Serpentine Gallery, London, England; 1975 Southland Video Anthology, Long Beach Museum of Art, L.B., CA; 1976 Video International, Arhus Kunst Museum, Denmark.

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Subsequently his work has also garnered selection in historical retrospectives of the era, showcasing this early Video Art period, including: 2008 California VIDEO, J. Paul Getty Museum & The Getty Institute, Getty Center, Los Angeles, CA. 2011 Under the Big Black Sun: California Art 1974-81, MOCA, Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, CA.