Ed Moses has been a significant figure in the development and history of West Coast abstraction in Los Angeles since his first monographic exhibition at the Ferus Gallery in 1958. His unconventional materials and techniques led him to a unique mode of expression grounded in graphic experimentation, which included large floral graphite drawings from the 1960s to his signature diagonal grids of the 1970s. Moses’s selection of the flowers (such as roses, chrysanthemums, and lilies) as a pattern was less about its connotations than its inherent potential for repetition, which provided a template for his mark making. The grids, whether ink on paper or acrylic on canvas, were executed with the same tools and methods of chance and repetition that characterized his drawings of the ’60s.  As with the artist’s earlier rose drawings, the grid drawings are filled with tight, obsessive, repetitive scribbles in graphite. Since then, Moses has constantly altered his aesthetic, experimenting with assemblage, installation, and printmaking, and exploring new techniques and materials.

He has had retrospectives and solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MOCA Los Angeles, and University of California Irvine.

Courtesy of The Los Angeles County Museum of Art