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 Ninety solo exhibitions in the United States, Japan, Europe, Mexico, and Australia, including Galerie Marquardt, Paris, 1990; Laura Bartlett Gallery, London 2012: Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013; Wallspace Gallery New York, 2014.
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; “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:; “Under the Big Black Sun,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angles, Ca., 2012, “Images Moving Out Onto Space,” Tate St. Ives, UK, 2015. “Whitney Biennial 2017,” Whitney Museum of American Art, NY, NY 2017
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 Flintridge Foundation Fellowship (1998), a City of Los Angeles Artist Grant (1999) and a California Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship (1998). Professor Divola has published fourteen books including, “Continuity” artwork 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, the Aperture book “Three Acts,” essay by David Campany, interview by Jan Tumlir, 109 duotone and 54 color plates,144 pages, May, 2006, and “As Far As I Could Get,” Prestel, 224 pages, October 2013, catalog of a collaborative exhibition of Divola’s work at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the Pomona College Art Museum, and the Los Angeles County Art Museum. Also, 2013, Vandalism, Mack Books, and 2018, Chroma, Slinnerboxx, 2020.
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.