If you’ve lived in Los Angeles and its environs for any length of time, there’s a very good chance you’ve been touched by the work of Richard Wyatt Jr. (1955-2024). He was one of the most prolific and high-profile of Southern California muralists, supplying large-scale images that told the town’s stories in the faces and figures of his subjects. Wyatt lost his eleven-year fight with cancer in May. For an artist who left such a strong imprint on the city, the lack of a formal obituary in the Los Angeles Times is as curious as it is unforgivable.
Wyatt was a native son—born in Compton, graduated from Fairfax High, trained in the Tutor/Arts program, schooled by painters Richard Joseph and Joseph Rafael at UCLA.
Wyatt’s pieces have achieved iconic status: the Los Angeles High School homage to its alum Ray Bradbury, the frieze of successive and hopeful Angelenos at the downtown Metro Station, the pueblo dwellers at Inglewood High School, the somewhat weary day travelers overlooking the Wilshire/Western station.
And of course, his Capitol Records mural, “Hollywood Jazz.” It was commissioned by the Los Angeles Jazz Society at its inauguration in 1990. But years of blistering sun took a scathing toll on the wall. In 2012, Downbeat online spoke with Wyatt on the occasion of its refurbishment. Read that story here.
Kirk Silsbee publishes promiscuously on jazz and culture.
Another great read Kirk. I once hired Wyatt to teach a class at OTIS when I
was chair of the ComArts Program. Richard has skills and vision.