ABOUT

The Making of Om Mani Padme Hum / LA Louver Gallery

Tom Wudl on Art and Mysticism / LA Louver Gallery

Tom Wudl, Pandemic Oral History Project, Archives of American Art, 2020

TOM WUDL

Lives and works in Los Angeles
Represented by LA Louver Gallery, Venice, CA

1948      Born in Cochabamba, Bolivia
1958      Immigrated to United States. Settled in Los Angeles, CA


Education

1966-70    Chouinard Art Institute, Los Angeles, CA
1970          B.F.A. from Chouinard Art Institute


2023. “Mapping an Art World: Los Angeles 1970s-80s”, MOCA Museum of Comtemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
2023. “The Flower Show”, LA Louver, Venice, CA
2020. “The Flowerbank World”
2015. "Beginningless Inexhaustible Empty", LA Louver, Venice, CA
2013. "Reflections of the Flowerbank World", LA Louver, Venice, CA
            "Tom Wudl", Cuesta College Art Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
2012. "Tom Wudl: Works From 1971-1979", LA Louver, Venice, CA
2011. "Immensities and Infinities: Further Specimens from the Flowerbank World", LA Louver, Venice, CA
2009. "Specimens from the Flowerbank World", LA Louver, Venice, CA
2005. LA Louver, Venice, CA
2003. "Tom Wudl: You've got to Be Kidding!?", William D. Cannon Art Gallery, Carlsbad, CA
2002. Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
            LA Louver, Venice, CA
2000. "Tom Wudl Paintings", Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
1999. LA Louver, Venice, CA
1996. LA Louver, Venice, CA
1994. "Chthonic Garden", Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA
1993. "Recent Paintings", LA Louver, Venice, CA
1991. LA Louver, Venice, CA
1987. LA Louver, Venice, CA
1983. LA Louver, Venice, CA
1982. "Tom Wudl: Paintings 1975-1982", Arco Center for Visual Arts, Los Angeles
1981. Malibu Art and Design Center, Malibu, CA
            Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
1980. Annina Noisei Gallery, New York, NY
1979. Colleges of Creative Studies Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
            Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1978. Janus Gallery , Venice, CA
            Mandeville Art Gallery, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA
1976. Krebs Gallery, Bern, Switzerland
            Mizuno Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1974. Mizuno Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1973. Daytons Gallery 12, Minneapolis, MN
            Ron Feldman Gallery, New York, NY
1971. Eugenia Butler Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
            Mizuno Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Solo Exhibitions


2015.   
"Drawing in L.A.: The 1960's and 70's", Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA
"Selections from the Joann and Gifford Phillips Gift", New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
2014.    
"California Dreamin': Thirty Years of Collecting", Palm Springs Museum of Art, Palm Springs, CA
2013.    
"Tapping the Third Realm", Ben Maltz Gallery, Laband Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Group Show", LA Louver, Venice, CA
"Letters From Los Angeles Part II: Identity & Self-Identity Through Text in Art", Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
2012.      
"Letters From Los Angeles: Text In Southern California Art", Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
2011-12.  
"California Art: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, in conjunction with Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA
"A Tribute to Beatrice and Philip Gersh: Gifts to the Museum of Contemporary Art”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA, October 16, 2011–April 2, 2012.
"Greetings from L.A.: Artists and Publics, 1950-1980, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA; traveled to Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlne, Germany
2011.  
"California Art: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation”, in conjunction with Pacific Standard Time: Art in L.A. 1945-1980, Fullerton College Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA
"Wudl Studios: A Creative Collective”, Compact Gallery, San Luis Obispo, CA
"California Art: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation",  Frederick Weisman Museum, Pepperdine University, Malibu, CA
"Loose Canon”, LA Louver, Venice, CA
"Southern California Painting, 1970’s: Painting Per Se”, curated by Peter Frank and David Eichholtz, David Richard Contemporary,  Santa Fe, NM
"Some Assembly Required: Assemblage and Collage”, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2010.    
"Artist’s Museum", Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
"Able-Bodied”, Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV
2009.  
"California Calling: Works from Santa Barbara Collections, 1948-2008,” Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2008.  
"Some Paintings: The 2007 LA Weekly Annual Biennial," Curated by Doug Harvey, Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2007.  
"Made in California: Contemporary California Art From the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation,” 15th  Anniversary Celebration, Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art,  Pepperdine University, Los Angeles, CA
2006.  
"Driven to Abstraction”, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2003.  
"LAPD Los Angeles Pattern and Design" Rosamund Felson Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2002.  
"August 2002," LA Louver, Venice, CA
2001.    
"Chouinard: A Living Legacy," Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, CA (traveled to Kruglak Gallery, Mira Costa College; Boehm Gallery, Palomar College)
"Tom Wudl/Peter Shelton" Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
1998.  
Group Exhibition, LA Louver, Venice, CA
1994.  
"Three Visions," Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
1993.    
"Menagerie: Animal Images by Contemporary Artists," The Hope Street Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"On Water," Ruth Bachofner Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
"Elegant, Irreverent & Obsessive: Drawing in Southern California," California State University, Fullerton, CA (catalogue)
1991.  
"Individual Realities in the California Art Scene," Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo
1990.  
"Faces," Marc Richards Gallery, Los Angeles, CA in cooperation with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1989.  
"Whitney Biennial," Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
1988. 
"Perpetual Motion," Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA in cooperation with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
1987.    
"The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting 1890-1985," the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
1985.    
"Sunshine and Shadow: Recent Painting in Southern California," Fischer Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
1984.  
"American/European: Painting, Drawing & Sculpture," LA Louver, Venice, CA
"New Standard," Otis-Parsons School of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
1983.    
"California Current," LA Louver, Venice, CA
"The Painting Show," Sonoma State University Art Gallery, Rohnert Park, CA
1982.    
Ruth Schaffner Gallery, Santa Barbara, CA
"Changing Trends," Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA
Otis-Parsons Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Contemporary Los Angeles Artists," Nagoya City Museum, Japan
1981.    
"Major Work by Six Artists," LA Louver, Venice, CA
"California: A Sense of Individualism," LA Louver, Venice, CA
"Portraits," University of California, Irvine, CA
"Decade," Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
1979.    
"West Coast Abstract Painting and Sculpture," Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
"Selections from the Fred Weisman Collection of California Art," Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Faculty show, Claremont College of Art, Claremont, CA
1978.    
"Works on Paper," Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1977.  
"Unstretched Surfaces," Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
"Watercolors and Related Media by Contemporary Californians," Baxter Art Gallery, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, NY
1976.    
"Four Artists," LA Louver, Venice, CA
"Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
1974.
Texas Gallery, Houston, TX
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Seventy First American Exhibition," Art Institute of Chicago, IL
1973.    
Paris Biennale, Paris, France
1972.    
Documenta Number Five, Kassel, Germany
Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Mizuno Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Fifteen Los Angeles Artists," Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena, CA
1971.    
"New Paintings in Los Angeles," Newport Harbor Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
"Off the Stretcher," Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions


Art Center College of Design
The Capital Group Companies Ltd., Los Angeles, CA
The Contemporary Museum of Honolulu, HI
Environmental Lobbying Fund
Frederick Weisman Foundation, Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla, CA
Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT
Orange County Museum of Art, Orange County, CA
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
Pepperdine University Museum of Art, Malibu, CA
Walt Disney Company, Burbank, CA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Selected
Public Collections


2020 Inducted into the Smithsonian Archives of American Art
1975   Received N.E.A. Fellowship Grant
1972   Received "Young Talent Award" Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Grants, Fellowships and Honors


1993-       Private Instruction
1997-99.   Instructor, Figure Drawing in the Animation Department, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
1981-94.    Instructor, Otis-Parsons School of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
1979-84.   Lecturer, College of Creative Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
1978-79.   Lecturer and Graduate Advisor, Department of Fine Arts, Claremont Colleges, Claremont, CA
1976-77.   Lecturer and Graduate Advisor, University of California, Los Angeles, CA
1975.        Instructor, University of California, Irvine, CA
1975.        Instructor, Art Center college of Design, Pasadena, CA

Teaching History


PUBLICATIONS

Wright, Dale.  "Reflections of the Flowerbank World: The Avatamsaka Sutra in Art", Tricycle Magazine.  Summer 2014, page 56 - 61.

Buckley, Annie.  "Tom Wudl", Art in America.  December 2013, page 160-161.

Buckley, Annie.  "Tom Wudl, LA Louver Gallery", Artforum.com Critics' Picks.  17 June 2011.

Pagel, David. "Art review: Tom Wudl at L.A. Louver Gallery", Los Angeles Times, Culture Monster. 20 November 2009.

Clothier, Peter. "LA Art Rounds", The Huffington Post. 10 December 2009.

Dambrot, Shana Nys. “Driven to Abstraction” Lifescapes. September 2006, pages 29-34.

Buckley, Annie. “Wudl at LA Louver” Artweek. February 2006, page 18.

Frank, Robert. “Tom Wudl, Graciela Sacco” LA Weekly. December 23 – 29, 2005, page 50.

Pagel, David. “Life pieced together from floating images” Los Angeles Times. Friday, 16 December 2005, pages E33, E35.

Rifkin, Alan. “Writing in the Dust” Los Angeles Times Magazine. Sunday, 13 November 2005, color reproductions on front cover, pages 4, 12-13.

Miles, Christopher. “Report from Santa Monica II: Tracking Patterns” Art in America, February 2004, pages 76-81.

Life & Arts, Santa Monica Mirror, Monday, September 8, 2003, Volume 4, Issue 48.

Pagel, David. "Looking Past Laughs to Brittle Beauty, Sadness" Los Angeles Times, Friday, March 15, 2002.

Openings, NY Arts Magazine, March 2002.

Brumer, Andy. "Reviews ArtScene" March 2002, Volume 21, Number 7.

Harvey, Doug. "Old White Guys Rule" LA Weekly, March 14, 2002.

Cooper, Jacqueline. "Reviews New Art Examiner" March 2000, page 50.

Berman, Emily. "Tom Wudl at LA Louver" Artweek, November 1999.

Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter. "In Tune with His Intuition" Los Angeles Times, Calendar, Art & Architecture, Friday, September 5, 1999.

Frank, Peter "Art Picks of the Week" LA Weekly, Calendar Exhibition-Events, Etc., October 8-14, 1999.

Davis, Bruce "Tom Wudl" Art Issues, January/February 1992.

Kandel, Susan. "Images of the Past and an Uncertain Present" Art Reviews Los Angeles Times, Thursday, November 21, 1996.

Wilson, Jane. "Painter helps students take mystery out of modern art" the Aspen Times, Daily, Friday March 20-22, 1992, Volume 5, Number 53.

Baron, Todd. "Tom Wudl" Art Scene, November 1991.

Vest, Paul. "Tom Wudl" Artweek, November 21, 1991, Volume 22, Number 9.

Frank, Peter. "Tom Wudl, Gloria Graham, Kay Crowe & Sydney Littenberg" LA Weekly, Calendar Art Picks of the Week, November 22-28, 1991.

Cottingham, Laura. "By the Biennial" 'A conservative show for a conservative age' Showplaces Art & Auction, June 1989, page 104.

Gardner, Colin. "The Art Galleries" Los Angeles Times, Part VI, Friday, January 30, 1987, pg 17

Weizenbach, Michael. "Tom Wudl" Review LA Weekly, Art, January 16-22, 1987.

"Modernism and Spirituality" Exhibitions, December 27, 1986.

Muchnic, Suzanne. "Sun Shines on 29 Local Artists" Los Angeles Times, Thursday, January 24, 1985.

Larsen, Susan. "Los Angeles Review" Art Forum, Summer 1983.

Muchnic, Suzanne. "The Galleries" Los Angeles Times, Part VI, Friday, March 25, 1983.

Bowsher, John. "Southern Painting: Surveying Changing Trends" Artweek, February 5, 1983, Volume 14, Number 5.

Lloyd, Frank. "Modernism's alive and well in Laguna" Orange County Register, December 10, 1982.

Wilson, William. "Common Threads Shared in 'Changing Trends'" Los Angeles Times, Calendar Section, Sunday, November 28, 1982, page 80.

Schipper, Merle. "Tom Wudl at Arco" Images & Issues, Reviews, September/October 1982.

Muchnic, Suzanne. "Tom Wudl Wrestles with His Muse" Los Angeles Times, Calendar Section, Sunday, May 2, 1982.

Singerman, Howard. "Los Angeles" Art Forum, September 1982.

Ames, Richard. "Brilliant Ceramics among Local Shows" Santa Barbara, California, News-Press, C14, Saturday, March 21, 1981.

"Tom Wudl Show at Schaffner" Santa Barbara, California. News-Press, C16 Arts/artists, Saturday, March 7, 1981.

Levin, Kim. "Agnes Martins Gridlock" Village Voice, December 10-18, 1980.

Ricky. "Art" Village Voice, December 3, 1980.

Seldis, Henry. "'New Talent' at LACMA" Los Angeles Times, Art Review, September 13, 1976.

Seldis, Henry. "Art Walk" Los Angeles Times, Part IV, Friday, Feburary 13, 1976.

Seldis, Henry. "Preview of Vanguard Art at Kassel's Documenta 5" Los Angeles Times, Part IV, Thursday, June 29, 1972.

Seldis, Henry & Wilson, William. "Art Walk" Los Angeles Times, Part IV, Firday, December 17, 1971.

Selected Periodicals


Selected
Exhibition Catalogues

“Driven to Abstraction: Southern California and the Non-Objective World, 1950-1980” Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California, August 26 – October 14, 2006, Exhibition Catalogue, pages 86-87, 2006

"Tom Wudl: You've Got to be Kidding!?" William D. Cannon Art Gallery, Cultural Arts Office, City of Carlsbad. February 8 through March 30, 2003. Forward and interview by Karen McGuire, curator, Exhibition Catalogue, 2003.

"Perpetual Motion: Karen Carson, Margaret Nielson, John Rogers, Tom Wudl" The Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, in cooperation with the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Exhibition Catalogue, pages 71-90, 1987.

“The Spiritual in Art: Abstract Painting, 1890-1985” Maurice Tuchman, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Abbeville Press, Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Exhibition Catalogue, 1986.


“Tom Wudl: The Flowerbank World”, LA Louver, 2020

"Inside the LA Artist," Marva Marrow, UT Gibbs M. Smith/Peregrine Smith Publisher, 1988.

"An Illustrated Survey of Leading Contemporary Americans, " Edited by Le Krantz, Facts On File Publisher, 1985.

"California Connection: Sixteen Paintings from the Gifford and Joann Phillips Collections," Anne Carnegie Edgerton, Museum of New Mexico Press, 1983.

"Decade: Los Angeles Painting in the Seventies," Art Center College of Design, 1981.

"Art Inc., American Paintings from Corporate Collections," Mitchell Douglas Kahan, 1979.

"Painting & Sculpture in California, the Modern Era," San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1976.

Selected Books