John Divola (b. 1949, Los Angeles) BA, 1971 California State University, Northridge; MA 1973: MFA 1974, University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1975 he has taught photography and art at numerous institutions including California Institute of the Arts (1978-1988), and since 1988 he has been a Professor of Art at the University of California, Riverside.
Since 1975, Divola’s work has been featured in more than sixty solo exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Europe, Mexico, and Australia, including Galerie Marquardt, Paris, 1990; Seibu Gallery, Tokyo, 1987; the University of New Mexico Art Museum, 1982; The Patricia Faure Gallery, Los Angeles, 2000; and Janet Borden Gallery, New York, 2001. Since 1973 his work has been included in more than two hundred group exhibitions in the United States, Europe, and Japan, including: “Mirrors and Windows,” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, 1978; “1981 Biennial Exhibition,” Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York. 1981; “California Photography: Remaking Make-Believe,” Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York. 1989. “The Photographic Condition,” The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, California. 1995; “Photo Binennale, Enschede (Obsessions. From Wunderkammer to Cyberspace),” Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enchede, Netherlands. 1995 “Made in California: Art, Image, and Identity 1900-2000, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, , 2000; “Architecture Hot and Cold,” The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2000, and “Los Angeles 1955-85,” Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2006, “The Conspiracy”, Kunsthalle Bern. Bern, Switzerland, 2009
Among Divola’s Awards are Individual Artist Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1973, 1976, 1979, 1990), a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship (1986), a Fintridge Foundation Fellowship (1998), a City of Los Angeles Artist Grant (1999) and a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (1998). Four recent books by John Divola are, “Continuity” art work and preface by John Divola. Ram Publications/Smart Art Press, Los Angeles, California. October, 1997. 72 pages, “Isolated Houses,” with Essay by Jan Tumlir, 48 pages with 24 color plates, Nazraeli Press, 2000, “Dogs Chasing My Car In The Desert,” preface by John Divola, 48 pages with 20 duotone plates, Nazraeli Press, 2004, and the Aperture book “Three Acts,” essay by David Campany, interview by Jan Tumlir, 109 duotone and 54 color plates,144 pages, May, 2006, “The Green of This Notebook,” Nazraeli Press, 41 four color plates, 2009.
John Divola works primarily with photography and digital imaging. While he has approached a broad range of subjects he is currently moving through the landscape looking for the oscillating edge between the abstract and the specific.
Website
http://www.divola.com
