Richard Wyatt Jr. (October 7, 1955 - May 17, 2024) is a contemporary muralist best known for his public art in and around the city of Los Angeles. His murals can be found at the

Watts Towers The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or ''Nuestro Pueblo'' ("our town" in Spanish) are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the arti ...

, the

Capitol Records Building The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of t ...

, White Memorial Hospital, the

Ontario Airport Ontario International Airport is an international airport east of downtown Ontario, in San Bernardino County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles and west of downtown San Bernardino. It is owned and operated unde ...

, the Wilshire and Western Metro station, the

Union Station A union station, union terminal, joint station, or joint-use station is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway company, railway companies, allowing passengers to connect conveniently bet ...

East Portal, and many other locations.

Early life

Wyatt was born in

Lynwood, California Lynwood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a total population of 67,265, down from 69,772 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Lynwood is located nea ...

and grew up in Compton before moving to the

Crenshaw District Crenshaw, or the Crenshaw District, is a neighborhood in South Los Angeles, California. In the post–World War II era, a Japanese American community was established in Crenshaw. African Americans started migrating to the district in the mid ...

South Los Angeles South Los Angeles, also known as South Central Los Angeles or simply South Central, is a region in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles, south of Downtown Los Angeles, downtown. It is de ...

. Wyatt graduated from Fairfax High School. He went on to attend the

Chouinard Art Institute The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Chouinard, Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake, Los Angeles, Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt Disney, Walt and ...

from 1966 to 1968 and also studied in a Tutor Art Saturday youth program at the

Otis Art Institute Otis College of Art and Design is a Private university, private Art school, art and design school in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is l ...

. It was at Otis that Wyatt met and studied with Charles White, whose work was a major influence on him, and with John Riddle, who helped him improve his technique and encouraged him to address social themes in his art. Wyatt earned his B.F.A. from UCLA in 1978, and by then he had already established contacts in Los Angeles' mural movement.

Career

Wyatt showed artistic promise from an early age. When he was twelve, he won $200 at the first Watts Chalk-In, a sidewalk art contest sponsored by the

Studio Watts Workshop The Studio Watts Workshop was an arts organization founded in 1964 and based in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, dedicated to providing working space for artists and offering a broad range of arts workshops for the local community. History ...

. At thirteen, he participated in an art show at the Los Angeles Bahá’í Center, where he exhibited alongside

John Outterbridge John Outterbridge (March 12, 1933 – November 12, 2020) was an American artist and community activist who lived and worked in Los Angeles, California. His work explores the issues surrounding personal identity such as family, community and the e ...

, who became a mentor and advocate. Other influential early mentors included Cecil Fergerson and Claude Booker, whom he met through his participation in the Watts Summer Festival. At the age of seventeen, Wyatt was selected to be part of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's 1972 "Panorama of Black Artists" exhibition, which garnered him widespread recognition and effectively launched his career as a member of the city's African American artistic community. Wyatt has worked as a teacher and lecturer, assisting

at the Watts Tower Arts Center from 1974–1978, and doing part-time, occasional teaching at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...

and at the

. But since 1989, he has been able to devote himself full-time to his art.

Notes

External links

Official website

Artist's page at Mural Conservancy site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Richard Jr. 1955 births Living people Artists from Los Angeles American muralists African-American contemporary artists American contemporary painters African-American painters UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni Chouinard Art Institute alumni 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American people African-American muralists