ABOUT | CV

Joshua Abarbanel is an artist who examines creation, fragility, and impermanence, regularly using forms and patterns evocative of biological, botanical, geological, and mechanical structures. Finding inspiration in fractals, accretive formations, and the Fibonacci sequence, Abarbanel's work is suffused with paradox: between the made and the grown, life and death, and microscopic and aerial perspectives. His sculptures and other projects are visual metaphors for archetypal relationships between people, between individuals and communities, and between humankind and the planet, and also illustrate how disparate parts can come together to make a whole in beautiful and startling ways. 

American, born in Manchester, England 1966
Lives and works in Santa Monica CA

Education:
1993 Master of Fine Arts, Design, University of California, Los Angeles
1989 Bachelor of Arts, Art and Psychology, University of California, Berkeley

Recent Commissions | Public Collections:
2020–present
Mega Reef 04, 2023. Commission for private residence, Wilson WY
Germination 03, 2023. Commission for private residence, New York NY
Mega Reef 03, 2022. Commission for private residence, Palo Alto CA
Mega Reef 02, 2021. Permanent Collection of the US Embassy, Colombo, Sri Lanka, Art in Embassies, US Department of State

Public collections: Google (Venice CA); Four Seasons (Abu Dhabi, UAE); US Embassy (Colombo, Sri Lanka), Art in Embassies, US Department of State

Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions:
September 11, 2017–Spring 2018, Joshua Abarbanel: Faith in a Seed, Dortort Center for the Arts, Hillel at UCLA, Los Angeles CA
March 11–April 15, 2017, Joshua Abarbanel: It's Only Natural, TAJ Art Gallery, Los Angeles CA
November 12–December 16, 2016, Joshua Abarbanel: Finding North, Los Angeles Harbor College Art Gallery, Wilmington CA
April 14–May 29, 2016, Seismic | Formations: Selected Works by Joshua Abarbanel and China Adams, Porch Gallery, Ojai CA
June 21–July 26, 2014, See Life: New Works by Joshua Abarbanel, Hinge Parallel Gallery, Culver City CA

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2024
May 21–August 4, 2024, Improving Nature: Engineered Wood in Art & Design, Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel MS
March 30–June 1, 2024, Enchanted Earth: Capturing Nature’s Magic, The Loft at Liz’s, Los Angeles CA

2020–2023
September 10–October 10, 2022, Too Much Fun, bG Gallery, Santa Monica CA
June 25–August 14, 2022, Cardboard City, Santa Monica, CA
July 8–August 29, 2021, Cardboard City, Santa Monica, CA
September 13, 2020–ongoing, SchUM on the Rhine: From Medieval Era to Modernity, Jewish Museum Worms, Germany (catalogue)

2014–2018
October 11–November 11, 2018, Pialli, A project of Curator Love, Los Angeles CA
October 11–November 10, 2018, In Bloom, HOTE Gallery, Los Angeles CA
February 1–March 11, 2018, Thomas Fire Artists' Recovery Exhibition, Porch Gallery, Ojai CA
August 30–September 24, 2017, UnSilent Spring, ArtShare L.A., Los Angeles CA
September 23, 2016–January 29, 2017, Golem, Jewish Museum Berlin, Germany (catalogue)
February 27–April 23, 2016, Occasional Curious Harbor Studio Faculty Exhibition, Los Angeles Harbor College Art Gallery, Wilmington CA
September 15–December 18, 2015, In Grain: Contemporary Work in Wood, Fleming Museum of Art, University of Vermont, Burlington VT
July 8–25, 2015, Sticks & Stones, ArtShare L.A., Los Angeles CA
February 7–April 5, 2015, Art House, Los Angeles CA
August 21–September 9, 2014, Veranda: Contemplating Spaces in Between, Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, Los Angeles CA
January 19–June 30, 2014, Abracadabra: Myth, Magic and Monsters, Hebrew Union College-JIR, Los Angeles CA
December 7, 2013–January 31, 2014, Art House, Los Angeles CA

2013 and prior
September 29–December 15, 2013, Sacred Words, Sacred Texts, Platt & Borstein Galleries, American Jewish University, Los Angeles CA
November 16–21, 2012, Hive-Zilla, Ganka Garou Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
October 11–November 29, 2012, Context, Columbia University-Bernard Kraft Center, New York NY
June 1–July 15, 2012, Text Messages, Pauline and Zena Gatov Gallery, Long Beach CA
October 28 2009–April 30, 2010, Vista Santa Monica, Annenberg Beach House, Santa Monica CA
August 14–December, 2009, Fresh Voices of Contemporary Jewish Artists, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles CA
2006 Makor/Source, UCLA Hillel/USC Hillel Galleries, Los Angeles CA
2005 Nature, Finegood Art Gallery, West Hills CA
2005–4 Too Jewish, Not Jewish Enough, Gotthelf Gallery, La Jolla CA; Bell Family Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2003 Featured Artist, Esquire Lounge at The Collective, New York NY
2001 Strata, Jose Drudis-Biada Art Gallery, Mount St. Mary’s College, Los Angeles CA
1996 A Month of Sundays, Lois Neiter Fine Arts, Los Angeles CA
1994 Water Visions, A New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley CA

Bibliography
For selected reviews and features, see Press.
Ice Culture, Black Coffee & Vinyl, January 2019
Elliot Wolfson, "Der Golem und der imaginäre Körper," Golem, Kerber Culture (publisher), Germany, 2016, pp. 44-45

Residencies | Awards | Affiliations | Activities:
2021, Co-Producer, UnRaveling documentary film
April 23, 2019, Keynote speaker, Loyola Marymount University, Yom HaShoah Commemoration, “A Golem for Berlin”
April 28, 2018, Keynote speaker, College of the Canyons MakerSpace Southern California Festival, "Digits and Digital: Harnessing Tech in Art Making"
2015, The Arctic Circle expeditionary residency (autumn 2015), Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Norway
2014, Winner, ArtSlant 6th 2014 Showcase, Sculpture
1996–2021: Associate Professor of Digital/Media Art, Los Angeles Harbor College, Department of Art
Co-creator and designer, A Field Guide to Household Bugs: It's a Jungle in Here (Plume, 2007)