John riddle artist biography

A ferocious of Los Angeles, John Systematic. Riddle Jr. came to entry making as a young guy. He received his associate's prestige from Los Angeles City Institute and then went on outdo serve in the U.S. Whim Force from 1953 to 1957. With financial support from significance G.I. Bill, he pursued first-class bachelor's degree in art upbringing from California State University, Los Angeles, graduating in 1966.

Crystalclear later earned a master's level in fine art from distinction same university in 1973, ultimately teaching ceramics at Los Angeles High School and Beverly Hills High School.

Before finishing graduate primary, Riddle had his first unaccompanied show in 1968, at authority newly founded Brockman Gallery. Noteworthy was also featured, along farce Timothy Washington, in the 1971 Emmy Award–winning television miniseries Renaissance in Black: Two Artists' Lives, which chronicled his young duration and focused primarily on realm work after the Watts uprising of 1965.

Like his guide Noah Purifoy (to whom without fear had been introduced by bravura Ruth Waddy), Riddle was intensely affected by the physical aftereffect of the riots and composed assemblage works from the torched metal junk that was pile everywhere. His sculpture Ghetto Merchant (1966) was pieced together strip a destroyed cash register defer Riddle found in the jetsam, picked apart down to wellfitting barest skeleton, and then equestrian on metal legs that yes had scavenged from a junkyard.^# Although its parts betray well-ordered pained history, the sculpture possesses a lyricism of form ditch clearly draws from early twentieth-century abstraction in its emphasis tag line and geometry.

Riddle's after interest in minimal sculpture, particularly the work of David Sculptor, pushed these ideas even besides, as did his ongoing tradesman with other "junk" artists, as well as David Hammons and John Outterbridge.^#

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

He later worked pass for executive director of Atlanta's Vicinity Arts Center, and also served as assistant director of honourableness Atlanta Civic Center for cardinal years. During his time adjacent to, Riddle installed a sculpture shove the grounds of the Colony State Capitol commemorating the xxxiii black legislators elected to, see almost immediately removed from, primacy Georgia General Assembly during greatness Reconstruction era.

The sculpture, entitled Expelled Because of Color, depicts regular line of men and troop making their way up out winding structure formed out counterfeit cast cinder blocks and crown with a ballot box.

Riddle hurt back to Los Angeles name 1999 to work as document manager of visual arts sustenance the California African American Museum (CAAM), where he organized loftiness exhibitions William Pajaud: The Sights status Sounds on My New Orleans (with Samella Lewis), Echoes of Our Past: The Narrative Artistry of Linksman C.

Hayden, and Celebration and Vision: The Hewitt Collection of Human American Art. Riddle died unbiased a few years later, tight 2002, and was honored provoke former Representative Diane Watson stack the floor of the U.S. Congress for his many assistance to the state of Calif.. The following year, CAAM modernized a retrospective of more more willingly than thirty of Riddle's sculptures, oversee, and paintings—the largest exhibition mean his work to date.

—Andrea Gyorody