{{Short description|American artist}} {{Infobox artist | name = John Divola | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 6 June 1949 | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, United States | death_date = | death_place = | field = Photography | education = California State University, Northridge, University of California, Los Angeles | training = | movement = | works = | patrons = | influenced = | awards = | website = {{Official website|www.divola.com}} }}
'''John Divola''' (born 6 June 1949)<ref>[https://whitney.org/artists/13000 Whitney Museum of American Art]</ref> is an American contemporary visual artist and educator, living in Riverside, California. He works in photography, describing himself as exploring the landscape by looking for the edge between the abstract and the specific.<ref name="Divola">{{cite web|url=http://www.divola.com |title=John Divola |author=John Divola|access-date=2011-11-12}}</ref> He is a professor in the art department at University of California Riverside.<ref name="ucr">{{cite web | title=Faculty: Divola | publisher=University of California, Riverside Art Department | url=http://www.art.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Divola/index.html | access-date=2011-11-12 | archive-date=2012-02-02 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120202054546/http://www.art.ucr.edu/people/faculty/Divola/index.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>
Divola's books include ''Continuity'', ''Isolated Houses'', ''Dogs Chasing My Car In The Desert'', and ''Three Acts.''<ref name="3acts"/> His work was included in group exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1978, 1989 and 2000<ref name="moma">{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-05|title=John Divola|url=https://www.moma.org/artists/1558|website=The Museum of Modern Art}}</ref> and in the 1981 and 2017 Whitney Biennials.<ref name="whitney">{{cite web|access-date=2023-04-29|title=John Divola|url=https://whitney.org/artists/13000|website=whitney.org}}</ref> In 1986 he received a Guggenheim Fellowship.<ref name="gf">{{cite web|access-date=2018-04-13|title=John Divola|url=https://www.gf.org/fellows/all-fellows/john-divola/|website=John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Divola was born in 1949 in Los Angeles, CA. He received a B.A. from California State University, Northridge in 1971 and later received an M.F.A. from University of California, Los Angeles in 1974.{{cn|date=April 2023}}
==Works== In his ''Zuma'' project, he has described being interested in the relation between real artworks and representations of them, and the issues of the natural and the artificial. Divola said "I attempted ... to develop a practice in which there could be no distinction between the document and the original."<ref name="Divola"/> In his series of photographs from 1977, he used deserted houses on Zuma Beach and covered their walls in graffiti. He photographed the ocean from the house's interior through windows and cracks. Divola states:<blockquote>"On initially arriving I would move through the house looking for areas or situations to photograph. If nothing seemed to interest me I would move things around or do some spray painting. The painting was done in much the same way that one might doodle on a piece of paper. At that point I would return to the camera and explore what ever new potentials existed."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ahornmagazine.com/issue_5/essay_shea_divola/essay_shea_divola.html |title=Navigating John Divola's 1970's Output |first=Daniel |last=Shea |publisher=Ahornmagazine.com |access-date=2011-11-12 |archive-date=2011-09-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110909065658/http://www.ahornmagazine.com/issue_5/essay_shea_divola/essay_shea_divola.html |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote> These cyclical images skillfully juxtapose romantic skies and sunsets with a seaside structure that, frame by frame, deteriorates into ruin as it is vandalized by the artist and others who eventually set it on fire.<ref name="3acts">{{cite web |title=John Divola: ''Three Acts'' |publisher=Aperture Foundation |first1=David |last1=Campany |first2=Jan |last2=Tumlir |url=http://www.aperture.org/books/book-categories/landscape/john-divola-three-acts.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081116175843/http://www.aperture.org/books/book-categories/landscape/john-divola-three-acts.html |archive-date=2008-11-16}}</ref> Divola's works trace a schematic desire for escape, movement and transcendence.
<blockquote>"My acts, my painting, my photographing, my considering, are part of, not separate from, this process of evolution and change. These photographs are not so much about this process as they are remnants from it. My participation was not so much one of intellectual consideration as one of visceral involvement."<ref>John Divola, 1980.</ref></blockquote>
In the work ''Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert,'' the images show dogs running wildly after the artist’s car. These black-and-white photographs capture a haunting moment that reveals a duality between absence and presence. The dogs' behavior suggests they lack prior stimuli and feel lonely. At the same time, the dogs show an intense reaction to the present and a heightened sense of the moment. <blockquote>"It could be viewed as a visceral and kinetic dance. Here we have two vectors and velocities, that of a dog and that of a car and, seeing that a camera will never capture reality and that a dog will never catch a car, evidence of devotion to a hopeless enterprise".<ref>"[http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~divola/All%20Main%20Link%20Pages/Book/Dogs/Dog%20Book%20Nazraeli.html DOGS CHASING MY CAR IN THE DESERT]". John Divola, 2004. www.faculty.ucr.edu</ref></blockquote>
In the photographic series "Dark Star," Divola has painted a single black spot on the interior walls of various dilapidated houses located in Inland Southern California. This intervention causes the images to resemble black holes or voids within the ruined domestic setting.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McLean-Ferris |first=Laura |date=2013-03-30 |title=John Divola |url=http://www.frieze.com/article/john-divola |access-date=2026-05-13 |work=Frieze |language=en |issue=153 |issn=0962-0672}}</ref>
In the "As Far As I Can Get" project, he made photographs by pushing the self-timer button on his camera. An exposure is made in 10 seconds.<ref name="Divola"/>
==Educator== He has held the position of Professor in the art department at University of California Riverside since 1988.<ref name="ucr"/>
==In popular culture== Divola's photograph ''Zuma'' was used as the cover art for American rock band Deerhunter's 2015 studio album ''Fading Frontier.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.stereogum.com/1824332/deerhunter-snakeskin/mp3s/|title=Deerhunter – "Snakeskin" Video + Fading Frontier Details|date=2015-08-16|website=Stereogum|access-date=2019-11-18}}</ref>
In 2020 Italian electronic music producer Lorenzo Senni used "Zuma 33" as the front cover of his Album "Scacco Matto".
==Publications== *''Gallery Min Catalog.'' 1987. *''Continuity.'' Ram, 1998. {{ISBN|0963078542}}. *''Isolated Houses.'' Tucson, AZ: Nazraeli, 2001. {{ISBN|3-923922-80-9}}. With an introduction by Jan Tumlir. Edition of 1000 copies. *''Dogs Chasing My Car in the Desert.'' Tucson, AZ: Nazraeli, 2004. {{ISBN|9781590051054}}. *''Three Acts: Vandalism, Los Angeles International Airport Noise Abatement Zone (LAX NAZ), Zuma.'' New York City: Aperture, 2006. {{ISBN|1-931788-95-2}}. With an essay by David Campany and an interview with Jan Tumlir. *''Seven Dogs.'' One Picture Book 45. Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2007. Edition of 500 copies. "A book of seven reproductions and one original color photograph.".<ref>{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Divola|last2=Nazraeli Press|title=Seven dogs|publisher=Nazraeli Press|location=Portland, Or.|oclc=236077104}}</ref> *''As far as I could get.'' Gothenburg, Sweden: Farewell, 2008. {{ISBN|9789197688833}}. *''LAX NAZ: Los Angeles International Airport Noise Abatement Zone (Exterior Views), 1975.'' Part of Six by Six series, set 3. Nazraeli, 2012. The other volumes are by William Christenberry, Eduardo del Valle & Mirta Gómez, John Divola, LAX NAZ, Daido Moriyama, Karin Apollonia Müller, and Carrie Mae Weems. *''Supermarket.'' One Picture Book 81. Portland, OR: Nazraeli, 2013. {{ISBN|9781590053911}}. Edition of 500 copies. "A book of 7 reproductions and one original photograph".<ref>{{cite book|first1=John|last1=Divola|last2=Nazraeli Press|title=Supermarket|year=2013|publisher=Nazraeli Press LLC |isbn=9781590053911|oclc=869831210}}</ref> *''San Fernando Valley.'' NZ Library, set 1, v.2. Nazraeli, 2014. {{ISBN|978-1-59005-384-3}}. Edition of 350 copies. There are 18 volumes in total by various authors. *''Vandalism.'' Mack, 2018. {{ISBN|9781912339006}}. *''Chroma.'' Jesi, Italy: Skinnerboox, 2020. {{ISBN|978-88-94895-33-9}}. With a transcription of an interview between Divola and David Campany. Edition of 800 copies. *''Terminus''. London: Mack, 2021. {{ISBN|978-1-913620-08-0}}. *''Scapes''. Skinnerboox, 2022. With an essay by David Campany. Edition of 750 copies.
==Awards== *Individual artist fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1973, 1976, 1979, 1990{{cn|date=April 2023}} *Guggenheim Fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 1986<ref name="gf"/>
==Group exhibitions== *''Mirrors and Windows: American Photography since 1960'', Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1978<ref name="moma"/> *''California Photography: Remaking Make-Believe'', Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1989<ref name="moma"/> *''Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West'', Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2009<ref name="moma"/>
==Collections== Divola's work is held in the following permanent collections: * Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA<ref>{{cite web |title=Carnegie Museum of Art's Collection |url=https://collection.cmoa.org/?creator=John%20Divola&page=1&perPage=10|website=Carnegie Museum of Art}}</ref> * Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-06|title=John Divola|url=https://ccp.arizona.edu/artists/john-divola|date=17 December 2019|website=Center for Creative Photography}}</ref> * Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago: 13 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-05|title=John M. Divola|url=https://www.artic.edu/artists/54687/john-m-divola|website=The Art Institute of Chicago}}</ref> * Fotomuseum Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland: 20 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-06|title=John Divola - Artist - Collection|url=http://www.fotomuseum.ch/en/explore/collection/artists/16647_john_divola|website=Fotomuseum Winterthur}}</ref> * George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY: 17 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-06|title=Works of: John Divola|url=https://collections.eastman.org/people/17324/john-divola/objects|website=George Eastman Museum}}</ref> * Hammer Museum, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA: 15 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-06|title=Search Results|url=https://hammer.ucla.edu/search?search=John+Divola|website=Hammer Museum}}</ref> * Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington{{cn|date=March 2021}} * J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles: 156 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-05|title=John Divola (American, born 1949) (Getty Museum)|url=https://www.getty.edu/art/collection/artists/3775/john-divola-american-born-1949/|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles}}</ref> * Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago: 3 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-06|title=Museum of Contemporary Photography|url=https://www.mocp.org/detail.php?t=objects&type=browse&f=maker&s=Divola%252C+John&record=0|website=www.mocp.org}}</ref> * Museum of Modern Art, New York: 8 prints (as of January 2021)<ref name="moma"/> * Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-05|title=Philadelphia Museum of Art - Collections Object : Zuma #12|url=https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/138276.html?mulR=651508562%257C1|website=www.philamuseum.org}}</ref> * San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco: 8 prints and a series of 12 prints (as of January 2021)<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2021-01-05|title=Divola, John|url=https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/john_divola/|website=SFMOMA}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|access-date=2023-04-29|title=The jewels of the new SFMOMA photography collection – in pictures|url=http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/may/09/pritzker-collection-sfmoma-photography|newspaper=The Guardian|date=9 May 2016|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> * Whitney Museum, New York: 14 prints (as of 29 April 2023)<ref name="whitney"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|www.divola.com}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Divola, John}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Photographers from California Category:Artists from Los Angeles Category:University of California, Riverside faculty Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni Category:20th-century American photographers Category:21st-century American photographers Category:Photography academics