Artist Profile

African-American artist John Outterbridge, a member of the Assemblage Movement, manipulates found objects to reflect his personal interest in folk art forms.  He is greatly influenced by his heritage, family, community, and life experiences.  Specifically, he has gathered inspiration from Nuestro Pueblo, commonly known as Watts Towers, with its mosaic surface created from broken glass, shells, pottery, and found objects.  The artist received his BFA at the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 1959.  In 1993, the California African-American Museum in Los Angeles exhibited his work as a retrospective.  Outterbridge has also received commissions to complete public projects for Metro Rail in Los Angeles and the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena.  The artist lives and works in Los Angeles.