Richard Wyatt Jr. is an American muralist born in 1955. He is best known for his art in and around the city of Los Angeles, which includes drawing, painting, and installations in public and corporate spaces. Wyatt’s artistic themes often revolve around history and culture. He has been an artistic presence in the Los Angeles art scene since he was twelve years-old. Beginning in the mid-1960’s his 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Evelyn Freeman, advised his parents to encourage Richard’s interest in art. At this time he was able to study art at the Watts Towers Art Center and the Studio Watts Workshop. Richard Wyatt was also able to attended the Tutor Art Program (established by the late Bill Tara) and practice his craft on Saturdays at the Otis Art Institute. These Saturday sessions were led by artist William Pajaud, and here, Richard was able to began studying, drawing and painting with his mentor, artist and teacher Charles White. In 1978, he obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of California, Los Angeles. Not only an artist, Richard Wyatt has also taught drawing and painting at the University of California, Irvine; the Otis/Parsons Art Institute, Los Angeles; and the Watts Towers Art Center, Los Angeles.
Richard Wyatt’s incredible art has been enjoyed in public and corporate spaces for more than 30 years and has been featured in publications, films, television, and documentaries throughout the world. In 1996, Richard Wyatt was commissioned to create the City of Dreams, River of History mural at the historic landmark Union Station, Los Angeles, CA. In 2010, he collaborated with May Sun and completed a public commission for the historic Robert F. Kennedy Monument located at the former Ambassador Hotel site on Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles, California. In 2012, he restored his iconic Hollywood Jazz: 1945-1972 mural in ceramic tile at the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, California. Beside his public art, Richard Wyatt has produced a significant body of paintings and drawings that have been exhibited in galleries and museums regularly. He was invited to exhibit at Black SoCal: Art and Practice in an Evolving Landscape for the 2015 Venice Biennale at the Pallazzo Querini Stampalia in Venice, Italy. However, the exhibition has yet to take place as it was postponed.
In 2019 Richard Wyatt was included in the Los Angeles County of Museum of Art exhibit for his mentor entitled Life Model: Charles White and His Students. Richard Wyatt has also exhibited in
- Looking Ahead: Portraits from the Mott-Warsh Collection at the Muskegon Museum of Art in Michigan in 2010;
- African American Artists in Los Angeles. A Survey Exhibition: Pathways, California African American Museum and Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles in 2009;
- Visions, Selections from the James T. Dyke Collection of Contemporary Drawings, opening at the Naples Museum of Art, Florida in 2007 and closing at the Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas in 2008;
- About Face, a solo exhibition at Steve Turner Gallery, Los Angeles in 2005 Representing L.A., a traveling group museum exhibition organized by the Frye Art Museum in Seattle in 2000-02
