The College of the Arts is thrilled to announce the acquisition of Professor of Art Joe Biel’s large-scale work “Veil” by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
With a collection of more that 150,000 objects, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States and is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of art from unexpected viewpoints informed by Southern California’s cultural heritage and diverse population.
In a 2012 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Biel discussed his process and inspiration for “Veil,” which came to him “in a flash” while reading James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake.” But while the idea formed quickly, Biel’s use of perspective took much longer to develop.
“Veil” was completed over a span of five years from 2010-15.
Measuring 60.25 x 154 x 2 inches, the watercolor, gouache and graphite work features thousands of meticulously drawn and precariously stacked vintage televisions, each depicting different images from history, pop culture and Biel’s own memories.
From the historic flag raising at Iwo Jima to Dorothy’s ruby slippers in “The Wizard of Oz,” the postage stamp-sized images form a mosaic of collective memories. The viewer is simultaneously drawn into the work through its recognizable subject matter and held at arm’s length by Biel’s more personal imagery.
In a congratulatory post announcing the LACMA acquisition, Hollywood’s Moskowitz Bayse gallery, which represents Joe Biel, connected the themes in “Veil” to the siloed nature of today’s cultural and media landscape, noting, “We’ve never been more fractured, nor connected. Thousands of individual nodes forming a single, uneasy whole.”
Biel works primarily in two-dimensional media and holds an MFA in painting from the University of Michigan. He has been exhibited in galleries nationally and internationally, and his work will be featured at Moskowitz Bayse in 2027. He has taught in CSUF’s Department of Art since 2004.
In both 2003 and 2008, he received the prestigious Pollock-Krasner Foundation award and has been awarded residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, Nebraska; the 18th St. Arts Center in Santa Monica; and at the Ballingllen Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland.