Bob Zoell

Bob Zoell (born April 13, 1940) is an American fine artist, predominantly active in Los Angeles. As a painter, he is best known for his association to the Abstract Reductive Formalism movement. As an illustrator, he was a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine with seven published covers, as well as to Esquire and the Los Angeles Times. In 1987 his painting Zarathustra’s Cave II was selected for LACMA’s permanent collection).[1][2]

Bob Zoell
Born (1940-04-13) April 13, 1940
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
OccupationPainter
Years active1970–present
Websitehttps://www.bobzoell.com

Early life

Bob Zoell was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. At age 15, he began working for sign shops and publishing companies. In 1962, he emigrated to Los Angeles, with a design position at Richter & Mracky Design Associates. In 1966, he joined Saul Bass & Associates as an Art Director in charge of Corporate Identity and Packaging. In 1968, he opened his own design and illustration studio in Los Angeles, becoming internationally known for his pioneering work as an editorial illustrator for Esquire, Playboy, the Los Angeles Times, and others.[1][2]

Fine art
Aesthetic Philosophy

"I was overwhelmed by Nietzsche. I read it all, his Zarathustra several times. Duchamp—his wonderful wit, art because he said it was art. No-mind Zen, how can a reductivist not love No-mind: the dance with Nothing, so close to Something, that space of Be and Is and little words like that? And Wittgenstein's pictures and words: we think in pictures and words. And then Malevich's black square, 50 years ahead of his time. The copulation of Van Gogh's heart, Duchamp's wit and Pollock's guts."

—Bob Zoell, Bob Zoell Selected Work Since 1970[3]

Zoell's art is formally disciplined, yet slyly self-mocking.

In 1970, he began exploring Abstract Reductive Formalism and representational painting, however he first gained attention for his counterfeit parking signs with oddly cryptic messages installed on Los Angeles streets. Critical acclaim soon followed for his minimalist abstractions that combined elemental geometric forms with evocations of "smiley" faces, stick figures, and other rudimentary imagery.[3]

In the 1980s, Zoell started exhibiting at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, California State University Northridge, and the University of Southern California. In 1983, he was a featured artist in Domus magazine (Milan, Italy).[3][4] In 1986, he exhibited murals on the new building of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE),[5] and a two-person show with Gary Panter at San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.[3] In 1987 he had a solo show titled Spots at Ace Gallery where he installed works in seven rooms. In 1989, his painting Zarathustra’s Cave II was purchased by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) for its permanent collection.[6]

Zoell’s illustration work was featured on seven The New Yorker covers between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.[7]

From 2000 to 2001, Zoell taught as visiting faculty in advanced painting at UCLA.[7]

In 2011, Flag Stop Art Fair had a major survey of Zoell's work called Pictures and Words, curated by Howard Fox of LACMA. It featured nearly 50 large-scale paintings, prints, signs, and photo-documentation of Zoell's public art projects.[8]

His work has been shown internationally in Japan and France.[7]

"For the past thirty years, the L.A.-based painter, whose work constantly pushes at the boundaries of this medium, has sought to get beyond the comforts of what has been done before so that something unforeseen might take shape—with greater clarity and precision than previously imagined, much less conceived."
—Introduction to Bob Zoell Selected Work Since 1970 (2000) by Los Angeles Times art critic David Pagel[3]

Public art

In 2003, Zoell was a contributor for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s poster project, and in 2004 he installed ceramic tile art on four columns at the Wilshire/Vermont station.[1][9] In 2010, he installed “bFiLrYd” (Bird Fly), a glass curtain wall on permanent display in the San Francisco International Airport. He also installed a 14’x100’ mural at the Denver Police Facility Firing Range.[10] In 2012, he installed a 155’ ceramic mural at the Nashville Music City Center. In 2020, he will install a mural at PS 464 Elementary School in Manhattan, commissioned by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.[1][2]

Selected exhibitions

Awards

References
  1. Roberto Loiederman (2013-05-09). "L.A.'s underground art scene". The Washington Post.
  2. Kirk Silsbee (2013-11-18). "Works deliver Bob Zoell's unique, spot-on design". Los Angeles Times.
  3. Bob Zoell, David Pagel (2000). Bob Zoell Selected Work Since 1970. If Publishing. ISBN 0967472016.
  4. "Bob Zoell". Milan, Italy: Domus. 1983-10-01. p. 42.
  5. "Anthony Ausang, Pamela Goldblum and Bob Hope Zoell / Outside LACE". LACE. 1986-04-30.
  6. "Bob Zoell at Ace". Art in America. 1989.
  7. Françoise Mouly (2012). Blown Covers: New Yorker Covers You Were Never Meant to See. Harry N. Abrams. ISBN 978-1419702099.
  8. Shana Nys Dambrot (2011-09-11). "Flag Stop Art Fair: South Bay Lexus Dealership Becomes an Art Gallery". LA Weekly.
  9. "No Title, 2004". LA Metro. 2004.
  10. Doug Harvey (2010-03-11). "Residents Artist in Residence". LA Weekly.
  11. Phillip A. Washington, ed. (2018). Los Angeles: Through the Eyes of Artists (PDF). Metro Communications. p. 70.
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