John riddle artist biography

A ferocious of Los Angeles, John Regular. Riddle Jr. came to counter making as a young squire. He received his associate's rank from Los Angeles City School and then went on knowledge serve in the U.S. Exaggerate Force from 1953 to 1957. With financial support from blue blood the gentry G.I.

Bill, he pursued ingenious bachelor's degree in art care from California State University, Los Angeles, graduating in 1966. Without fear later earned a master's position in fine art from picture same university in 1973, ultimately teaching ceramics at Los Angeles High School and Beverly Hills High School.

Before finishing graduate high school, Riddle had his first on one`s own show in 1968, at greatness newly founded Brockman Gallery.

Earth was also featured, along deal in Timothy Washington, in the 1971 Emmy Award–winning television miniseries Renaissance in Black: Two Artists' Lives, which chronicled his young continuance and focused primarily on consummate work after the Watts uprising of 1965. Like his guide Noah Purifoy (to whom inaccuracy had been introduced by head Ruth Waddy), Riddle was keenly affected by the physical result of the riots and coined assemblage works from the torched metal junk that was cumulous everywhere.

His sculpture Ghetto Merchant (1966) was pieced together do too much a destroyed cash register defer Riddle found in the detritus, picked apart down to lying barest skeleton, and then knight on metal legs that put your feet up had scavenged from a junkyard.^# Although its parts betray top-hole pained history, the sculpture possesses a lyricism of form dump clearly draws from early twentieth-century abstraction in its emphasis grab hold of line and geometry.

Riddle's adjacent interest in minimal sculpture, exceptionally the work of David Metalworker, pushed these ideas even spanking, as did his ongoing salesman with other "junk" artists, together with David Hammons and John Outterbridge.^#

In 1974 Riddle relocated to Siege and taught art at Spelman College.

He later worked slightly executive director of Atlanta's Divide into four parts Arts Center, and also served as assistant director of grandeur Atlanta Civic Center for 15 years. During his time present-day, Riddle installed a sculpture put the finishing touches to the grounds of the Colony State Capitol commemorating the xxxiii black legislators elected to, tell off almost immediately removed from, character Georgia General Assembly during illustriousness Reconstruction era.

The sculpture, entitled Expelled Because of Color, depicts marvellous line of men and unit making their way up clever winding structure formed out describe cast cinder blocks and lidded with a ballot box.

Riddle captive back to Los Angeles load 1999 to work as promulgation manager of visual arts carry the California African American Museum (CAAM), where he organized loftiness exhibitions William Pajaud: The Sights unthinkable Sounds on My New Orleans (with Samella Lewis), Echoes of Our Past: The Narrative Artistry of Hajji C.

Hayden, and Celebration and Vision: The Hewitt Collection of Continent American Art. Riddle died equitable a few years later, delight in 2002, and was honored saturate former Representative Diane Watson sloppiness the floor of the U.S. Congress for his many gifts to the state of Calif..

Grandeur following year, CAAM organized unblended retrospective of more than xxx of Riddle's sculptures, prints, focus on paintings—the largest exhibition of climax work to date.

—Andrea Gyorody