John RIDDLE - African American Original - No Reserve

John T. Riddle, Jr, was born in Los Angeles, California on March 18, 1933. He attended local public schools and Los Angeles City College. He joined the United States Air Force in 1953 serving until 1957. With the assistance of the G.I. Bill, he attended night school for nine years, earning a Bachelor’s Degree (1966) in Art Education and a Master’s Degree (1973) in Fine Art from California State University, Los Angeles. Riddle taught art at Los Angeles High School and Beverly Hills High School before moving to Atlanta, Georgia, in 1984 where he taught at Spelman College. He also served as Executive Director of Atlanta’s Neighborhood Art Center, Inc. and for 15 years he was the Assistant Director of the Atlanta Civic Center. Riddle returned to Los Angeles in 1999 to the position of Program Manager of Visual Arts for the California African American Museum.

During the turbulent Civil Rights era of the 1960’s the Watts Riots of 1965 had a profound affect on many in the African American art community in Los Angeles. Riddle like his contemporaries, responded to the unrest as a time to reclaim and revitalize a cultural agenda begun with the Harlem Renaissance, creating an aesthetic they believed was rooted in an African American consciousness. The Black Arts Movement sprang from this time and sought a link between the artist and his community. It was believed that it was black artists’ responsibility to create art for black people. Larry Neal, one of its the influential thinkers that, "in a context of world upheaval, ethics and aesthetics must interact positively and be consistent with the demands for a more spiritual world." Black artists had to relate ethics and aesthetics; they had to decide whose truth to present, to deal with the ideas of beauty and truth as reflections of the black society, and as power for the black people through their art.

Theses were some of the ideas artists like John Riddle contemplated and reacted to. Riddle noted that after the “1960’s awakening” his ideas about “what the purpose of art should be,” changed. The art produced in this period was mostly figurative and directly addressed the conditions of black Americans often making social commentaries and positing social solutions to issues of racial and sexual discrimination, the Vietnam War and economic disparities in the country.

Accordingly, Riddle’s early figurative paintings like Roots (1967) and Bookie Joint (1969) depict African American histories and motifs of everyday life embodying a flatly painted style (reminiscent of the work of Jacob Lawrence; and Romare Bearden). This period not only challenged Riddle to re-investigate the content of his work but also the form. He began to question the materials he used, particularly paint thinking it was too passive for the type of message and meaning he wanted conveyed through his work. Rusted metal, debris and broken down machines like typewriters and the like possessed the type of dynamism and history of place that he sought. He became increasingly invested in sculpture, especially assemblage, actually scouring the streets in South Central Los Angeles for the discarded and the charred remains in that area. For Riddle, this approach was a more direct way of addressing their community and aesthetic.

Riddle’s “Made in Mississippi” (1973) was a series of assemblages housed in ammunition boxes that were manufactured in Mississippi. He characterized this series, originally titled “Spirit versus Technology”, as the embodiment of the spirit that propelled technology and its use. He saw this technology as one determined by the people. It is believed that the art historian and curator Dr. Samella Lewis changed the title because of the irony and social commentary embedded in the idea of military equipment manufactured in Mississippi, which was also a hot-bed of conflict during the Civil Rights movement. The relationship between the military, visual culture and conflicts like the Watts riots suggests a manufacturing of social conditions like racism, sexism, and economic disparities as problems created by institutions.

In 1971, he was one of the subjects of the NBC Emmy Award winning television presentation entitled, “Renaissance in Black: Two Artists’ Lives.” One of Riddle’s public commissions, ‘Expelled Because of Color” (1976), can be found on the grounds of the Georgia Capital. It commemorated 33 black state legislators elected to the Georgia General Assembly and ousted almost immediately in 1868. Riddle explained “although Negroes could vote and elect their own representatives (in 1868) according to the 13^th Amendment to the Constitution, there was no provision allowing negroes to hold office.” In 1990 Riddle was selected to be an “Official Artist” for Absolut Vodka for a work entitled “Absolut Riddle”. Thereafter, Riddle was again honored in 1991 by being named the “Official Artist” of the Montreux Atlanta International Music Festival from a work entitled “The Solo” which reflects the artist’s love of jazz music.

As the art curator for the California African American Museum Riddle put together William Pajaud: The Sights and Sounds on My New Orleans (with Dr. Samella Lewis), Echoes of Our Past: The Narrative Artistry of Palmer C. Hayden and the Celebration and Vision: The Hewitt Collection of African American Art. He also expanded the Museum’s collection with work by Benny Andrews, Charles Dickson, Artis Lane, John Outterbridge, William Pajaud, Betye Saar, Alma Thomas, Charles White and Walter Williams.

John Riddle passed away March 3, 2002. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Carmen Garrett Riddle, four daughters, two sons, and 12 grandchildren.

In the summer of 2003, the California African American Museum opened a major retrospective of John Riddle’s work for an entire year that went into the second quarter of 2004.