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Charles Arnoldi    (American, 1946)

 Charles Arnoldi - Crybaby (Sculptures) h: 4.5 x w: 3.5 x d: 3.5 in / h: 11.4 x w: 8.9 x d: 8.9 cm
Charles Arnoldi
Crybaby 2005
 
 Charles Arnoldi - Orphan (Prints)
Charles Arnoldi
Orphan 2006
 
 

Biography
1946 Born Charles Arthur Arnoldi in Dayton, OH
The following is from the Ro Gallery:
Charles Arnoldi has become a popular California artist best known for his brightly-colored, abstract paintings that incorporate the use of wood as an expressive medium, often using tree branches and twigs. He lives in Malibu and has had considerable financial success and celebrity attention.
He was born in 1946 in Dayton, Ohio and never imagined himself having a career in art. By the age of eighteen, Arnoldi had turned his back on a destructive and abusive childhood and moved to Los Angeles, California. He arrived in Southern California in 1965 and spent two years at Ventura Junior College before receiving a full scholarship to the Art Center School in Los Angeles. He only lasted two weeks at his new school before becoming frustrated with limitations imposed upon him as an illustrator. He soon enrolled in the Chouinard Art Institute and gained immediate recognition for his skill when he received a Los Angeles County Museum of Art talent award. When the funding for his tuition ran out, Arnoldi was suddenly faced with having to establish himself as an artist outside of an academic environment.
He experimented with various painting techniques and struggled to find a solid interpretation of his artistic vision. One day he collected some tree branches with a friend from a nearby area, brought them home and positioned them against the wall inside his studio. He observed the pieces and found that they resembled hand-drawn lines. He began to use branches and twigs to make up the lines within his paintings, "building" a painting with them. His earliest works were almost primitive in their simplicity and shape, resembling woven stick baskets delicately balanced. Arnoldi concentrated on his twig painting for eight years constructing many different forms, freestanding structures, sticks and string, twigs taped together densely or openly.
In 1977, he had one of his small stick structures created in bronze. It was his first metal sculpture and he found that the metal gave permanence to his wooden structures. He continued to use sculpt with metal, often collecting scraps from the foundry, and appreciating their natural form.
In the 1980's color started to become more important to him and he used bright pigments to give even more definition to his three-dimensional pieces. He also started to paint on canvas, always reflecting the elements of his wood paintings. In 1980 he painted his interpretation of the logjam that occurred as a result of the Mt. St. Helens volcano eruption. He juxtaposed his earth-toned canvas against a similar painting created entirely of sticks, mimicking the image on the painted canvas.
He was constantly redefining his artistic approaches, and in the late 1980's started working with large plywood sheets. He glued the layered sheets together, deconstructed the piece using a chainsaw to cut jagged scars into the wood, and then painted it. The work that emerged during this period was fueled by emotional energy that developed from both personal tragedy and personal joy. His mother and brother had both died, but Arnoldi had also experienced the birth of his first child, a son. He was able to direct his intense feelings into his art, often with dynamic results. He was now involved in a new process of building up and tearing down. His ever-evolving style took yet another direction when he started using heavy blocks of wood brightly painted and mounted on the wall. He made a point of preserving the integrity of wood by not sanding away any exposed grain.
In the 1990's Arnoldi departed from the rigidity of his wood creations by painting on canvas. His paintings from this period are predominantly black and white and display free-flowing organic shapes like twists and loops with a sense of motion not seen before in his work. Arnoldi's work has been exhibited throughout his career in many solo and group shows. His first one-man show was at the Riko Mizuno Gallery in Los Angeles in 1971 and subsequent solo exhibitions followed at the James Corcoran Gallery in Los Angeles, (1980-1985), and the Arts Club of Chicago, Illinois (1986). His group exhibitions include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1983), the Brooklyn Museum (1986) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (1992). Charles Arnoldi resides in Venice, California.

Exhibitions
2008 Caldwell Snyder Gallery St. Helena
2007 The Left Coast, Imago Galleries
2000 New Paintings, Skidmore Contemporary Art Malibu, CA
2000 Paintings, Ochi Fine Art Ketchum, ID
2000 Eckert Fine Art Naples, FL
2000 On Paper: Drawings, Paintings, and Collages, Skidmore Contemporary Art Malibu, CA
2000 Black, White and Bronze, Larry Bell, Palos Verdes Art Center Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
1999 , Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1999 The Eclectic Eye: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Collections, California Center for the Arts Escondido, CA
1999 The California State Senate Contemporary California Art Collection 1998-99, State Capitol Building Sacramento, CA
1999 Radical Past: Contemporary Art and Music in Pasadena, 1960-1974, Armory Center for the Arts Pasadena, CA
1999 New Works, Chac-Mool Contemporary Fine Art West Hollywood, CA
1999 Recent Works, Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1999 New Works, Chac Mool Contemporary Fine Art West Hollywood, CA
1998 New Works, Parchman Stremmel Galleries San Antonio, TX
1998 Gold, Skidmore Contemporary Art Malibu, CA
1998 Forms of Thought, William Turner Gallery Venice, CA
1997 New Paintings, Tony Shafrazi Gallery New York, NY
1997 New Work, Flanders Contemporary Art Minneapolis, MN
1997 Monotypes: A Survey 1987-1996, Flanders Graphics Minneapolis, MN
1996 New Monotypes, Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1994 , Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1994 About Color, Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1993 , Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1992 Monotypes, Gallery Kuranuki Osaka, Japan
1992 , Sun Gallery Seoul, Korea
1991 , Gallery Kuranuki Osaka, Japan
1991 Charles Arnoldi: Oil Paintings on Canvas, Cast Bronze Sculptures, Fred Hoffman Gallery Santa Monica, CA
1991 , Ochi Gallery Ketchum, ID
1991 The Unique Print: 70's into 90's, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
1991 Small Drawings, Klein Art Works Chicago, IL
1991 The Fourth International Shoebox Sculpture Exhibition, University of Hawaii at Manoa Art Gallery Honalulu, HI
1991 Soho at Duke: Five Artists from Charles Cowles Gallery, Duke University Museum of Art Durham, NC
1991 Visions/Revisions: Selections from the Contemporary Collection, Denver Art Museum Denver, CO
1991 Contemporary Abstraction, Klein Art Works Chicago, IL
1991 American Narrative Painting and Sculpture: The 1980's, from the Collect, Nassau County Museum of Art Roslyn Harbor, NY
1990 New Approaches, Tower Fine Arts Gallery State Univ. of New York College at Brockport, NY
1990 Monotypes from the Garner Tullis Workshop, Malmgran Gallery Göteborg, Sweden
1990 Artist's Quilts, Transamerica Corporation San Francisco, CA
1990 Newer Sculpture, Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1990 Selections from the Carnation Company Collection, The Armory Center for the Arts Pasadena, CA
1990 Black and White: Works on Paper, Linda Cathcart Gallery Santa Monica, CA
1990 Accrochage: 1985-1990, Michael Dunev Gallery San Francisco, CA
1990 Color in Art: American Expressions from the Mid-Twentieth Century to the Present, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
1990 Arnoldi/Stabilito, Kass/Merisian, Stabilito, Kass,, Chicago, IL
1990 The Painted Monotypes, Michael Dunev Gallery San Francisco, CA
1990 , Flanders Contemporary Art Minneapolis, MN
1990 , Arthur Roger Gallery New Orleans, LA
1990 , Michael Dunev Gallery San Francisco, CA
1990 , Malmgran Gallery Göteborg, Sweden
1990 , Sena Galleries West Santa Fe, NM
1989 , James Corcoran Gallery Santa Monica, CA
1989 Charles Arnoldi: Recent Monotypes from the Garner Tullis Workshop, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery New York, NY
1989 , Ocho Gallery Sun Valley, ID
1989 Art of the 80's from the Collection of Chemical Bank, The Montclair Art Museum Montclair, NJ
1989 Monoprints, Persons and Lindell Gallery Helsinki, Finland
1989 Selected Works from the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation, Traveled through, Wight Art Gallery University of California at Los Angeles, CA
1989 Three American Artists, The Works Gallery Long Beach, CA
1989 Contemporary Prints, Ochi Gallery Sun Valley, ID
1989 Visions of the Volcano, Volcano Art Center; Contemporary Museum Honolulu, HI
1988 Art in Public Buildings, Phebe Conley Gallery California State University at Fresno, CA
1988 Collaborations in Monotypes: Garner Tullis Workshop, University Art Museum University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
1988 Contemporary Masters, Richard Green Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1988 Contemporary Masters, Diane Nelson Gallery Laguna Beach, CA
1988 An Eclectic Eye: Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, Traveled through, Bridge Center for Contemporary Art El Paso, TX
1988 40th Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters New York, NY
1988 Imprimatur, Greenville County Museum of Art Raleigh, NC
1988 Molten Metal, Gallery at the Plaza (Sec. Pac. Nat. Bank) Los Angeles, CA
1988 The 1980's: A New Generation, The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, NY
1988 Professors' Choice III, Montgomery Gallery; Lang Gallery Pomona College; Scripps College, Claremont, CA
1988 Sculpture: Works on Bronze, Carl Schlosberg Fine Arts Sherman Oaks, CA
1988 West Coast Contemporary, Stremmel Galleries Reno, NV
1988 , Klein Gallery Chicago, IL
1988 , Richard Green Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1988 Charles Arnoldi: Painting and Sculpture, 1971-1988, Museo ItaloAmericano San Francisco, CA
1987 , Fuller Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1987 , James Corcoran Gallery Santa Monica, CA
1987 , Ochi Gallery Boise, ID
1987 , Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1987 Arnoldi: Just Bronze, University Art Museum, California State University Long Beach, CA
1987 , Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1987 The Anderson Collection: Two Decades of American Graphics 1967-1987, Stanford University Museum of Art Stanford, CA
1987 Cast in Bronze, U. of Missouri - Kansas City Gallery of Art Kansas City, MO
1987 Contemporary Masters, Richard Green Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1987 The Early Show: California Art from the Sixties and Seventies, James Corcoran Gallery Santa Monica, CA
1987 15th Anniversary, 1972-1987, Flanders Contemporary Art Minneapolis, MO
1987 The Frederick R. Weisman Collection: An International Survey, San Antonio, TX
1987 Los Angeles Artists: Modern Masters, The Ruthven Gallery Lancaster, OH
1987 New Works, Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1987 Prints by Los Angeles Artists, Asahi Shimbun Gallery Tokyo, Japan
1987 Recent Works: Charles Arnoldi, Ron Cooper, Laddie John Dill, Ron Cooper, Ladd, Sena Galleries West Santa Fe, NM
1987 39th Annual Purchase Exhibition, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters New York, NY
1986 Garner Tullis Workshop: Monotypes, Galerie au Poisson Rouge Vully, Switzerland
1986 Recent Graphics from American Print Shops, The Mitchell Museum Mt. Vernon, IL
1986 ARCO Sculpture Garden Installation, The American Film Institute Los Angeles, CA
1986 '70's in '80's: Printmaking Now, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
1986 A Southern California Collection, Cirrus Los Angeles, CA
1986 Collector's Choice Exhibition, Center for the Arts Vero Beach, FL
1986 Asian, Israeli and European Tours, Frederick R. Weisman Foundation of Art
1986 , New City Editions Venice, CA
1986 , Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1986 , Pamela Auchincloss Gallery Santa Barbara, CA
1986 , Janie Beggs Gallery Aspen, CO
1986 Arnoldi: Recent Paintings, University of Missouri, Kansas City Gallery of Art Kansas City, Missouri
1986 Public and Private: American Prints Today, The Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn, NY
1986 Foundry/Process, St. John's College; North Dakota Museum of Art Santa Fe, NM; Grand Forks, ND
1986 Contemporary Art from Southern California, Art in Embassies Program Helsinki, Finland
1986 First Impressions: Recent Monotypes by 15 Artists, Allan Frumkin Gallery New York, NY
1985 Abstract Relationships, Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1985 Basically Boxes, Klein Gallery Chicago, IL
1985 Basically Wood, Thomas Segal Gallery Boston, MA
1985 Contemporary Monotypes, The Gallery at the Plaza Los Angeles, CA
1985 Paint and Print, Herbert Palmer Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1985 Sculptors and Their Prints, Herbert Palmer Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1985 Selected Works/ The Frederick R. Weisman Foundation of Art, Art Center College of Design Pasadena, CA
1985 , Fuller Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1985 , Thomas Babeor Gallery La Jolla, CA
1985 , Charles Cowles Gallery New York, NY
1985 , James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1984 Charles Arnoldi: Unique Prints, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles, CA
1984 , James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1984 American Art for the Frederick R. Weisman Foundation Collections, San Francisco Art Institute Sna Francisco, CA
1984 Art and the Familiar Object, The Gallery at the Plaza Los Angeles, CA
1984 Art of the States: Works from a Santa Barbara Collection, Santa Barbara Museum of Art Santa Barbara, CA
1984 A Broad Spectrum: Contemporary Los Angeles Painters and Sculptors '84, Design Center of Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA
1984 California Sculptures Show, Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
1984 Contemporary American Wood Sculpture, Crocker Art Museum Sacramento, CA
1984 Current Expressions: Painting and Drawings, Fuller Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1984 Fifty Artists, Fifty States, Fuller Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1984 Out of Square: View Point '84, Cranbrook Academy of Art Museum Detroit, MI
1984 Sculpture at Art Center, Art Center of Design Pasadena, CA
1984 Stars, Fuller Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1983 Painted Object Painted, Herbert Palmer Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1983 Recent Work/ Recent Gifts, Santa Barbara Museum of Art Santa Barbara, CA
1983 Sculpture, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery Santa Barbara, CA
1983 Selected Works, Thomas Babeor Gallery La Jolla, CA
1983 Selections 1, Fuller Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1983 Summer Group Show, James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1983 The 38th Corcoran Biennial Exhibition of American Painting: Second Western States Exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art Washington, D.C.
1983 States Exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art Washington, D.C.
1983 Young Talent Awards: 1963-1983, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles, CA
1983 The American Artist as Printmaker, The Brooklyn Museum Brooklyn, NY
1983 The Bay Area Collects, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco, CA
1983 Charles Arnoldi and Laddie John Dill, Laddie John Dill, Art Gallery California State University at Fullerton, CA
1983 Group Show, Mizuno Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1983 , Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1983 , James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1982 , James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1982 Casting: A Survey of Cast Metal Sculpture in the '80's, Fuller Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1982 A Century of Modern Sculpture 1882-1982, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, TX
1982 Forgotten Dimensions: Survey of Small Sculpture in California Now, Fresno Arts Center Fresno, CA
1982 Group Show, Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1982 L.A. Art: An Exhibition of Contemporary Paingints, Nagoya City Museum Nagoya, Japan
1982 Painted Sculpture, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1982 A Private Vision: Contemporary Art from the Graham Gund Collection, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, MA
1982 Summer Group Show, Robert Elkon Gallery New York, NY
1982 Works from the Collection of Security Pacific, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1982 Works on Wood, Margo Leavin Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1981 The Americans/ The Landscape, Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, TX
1981 Artists Quilts, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary ARt La Jolla, CA
1981 Decade: Los Angeles Painting in the Seventies, Art Center College of Design Los Angeles, CA
1981 , Hanson-Fuller-Goldeen Gallery San Francisco, CA
1981 , Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1981 , James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1980 , James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1980 Group Show, Robert Elkon Gallery New York, NY
1980 Group Show, University of Hartford Hartford, CT
1980 Painted Sculpture, Palo Alto Cultural Center Palo Alto, CA
1980 Summer Group Show, James Corcoran Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1979 Aspects of Abstract, Crocker Museum Sacramento, CA
1979 The Dootson Collection, Seattle Museum of Art Seattle, WA
1979 Gallery Artists, Dobrick Gallery Chicago, IL
1979 Group Show, Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1979 , Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1979 , Nicholas Wilder Gallery Los Angele, CA
1979 , Dobrick Gallery Chicago, IL
1979 , Robert Elkin Gallery New York, NY
1978 , Nicholas Wilder Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1978 , Robert Elkon Gallery New York, NY
1978 Elkon in Boston, Sunne Savage Gallery Boston, MA
1978 Group Show, Stephen Wirtz Gallery San Francisco, CA
1978 Painting and Sculpture Today 1978, Indianapolis Museum of Art Indianapolis, IN
1978 Selections from the Frederick R. Weisman Company Collection of California Art, University Arrt Museum California State University, Long Beach, CA
1977 , Nicholas Wilder Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1977 , Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1976 , Seattle Museum of Art Seattle, WA
1976 Group Show, Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1976 Group Show, Georgia State University GA
1976 Painting and Sculpture in California: The Modern Era, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art San Francisco, CA
1976 Painting and Sculpture Today 1976, Indianapolis Museum of Art Indianapolis, IN
1975 Drawings, Margo Leavin Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1975 Hecho en Mexico, Otis Art Institute Los Angeles, CA
1975 Exhibition by Nicholas Wilder, University of Nevada at Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada
1975 Selections from the R.A. Rowan Collection, Mount St. Mary's College Los Angeles, CA
1975 Works on Paper, Robert Elkon Gallery New York, NY
1975 , Nicholas Wilder Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1974 Fifteen Abstract Artists, Santa Barbara Museum of Art Santa Barbara, CA
1974 Group Show, Museum of Modern Art New York, NY
1974 Group Show, Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1974 The Sculptor as Draftsman, JRL Fine Arts London, England
1974 , Nicholas Wilder Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1973 Drawings, Margo Leavin Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1973 Group Show, Courtney Sale Gallery Dallas, TX
1973 Market Street Program, San Francisco Museum of Art San Francisco, CA
1973 New Works, Barbara Okum Gallery St. Louis, MO
1973 Ten Years of Contemporary Arts Council Acquisitions, Los Angeles County Museum of Art Los Angeles, CA
1973 The Wall Object, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art La Jolla, CA
1973 8e Biennale de Paris, 8e Biennale de Paris Paris, France
1972 Fifteen Los Angeles Artists, Pasadena Art Museum Pasadena, CA
1972 The Power Survey of Contemporary Art 1972, Power Institute of Fine Arts, University of Sydney Sydney, Australia
1972 Arnoldi/Cooper/McCollum/Wudl, Cooper, McCollum, Art Gallery California State University, Fullerton, CA
1972 Dokumenta 5, Dokumenta 5 Kassel, Germany
1972 Drawings: Arnoldi, Cooper, Dill, Cooper, Dill, Betty Gold Gallery Fullerton, CA
1972 L.A. '72, Sidney Janis Gallery New York, NY
1972 Seventieth American Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago Chicago, IL
1972 Working in California, Albright-Knox Gallery Buffalo, NY
1972 , Texas Gallery Houston, TX
1971 , Riko Mizuno Gallery Los Angeles, CA
1971 Nine Artists, University of California at Irvine Irvine, CA
1970 Permutations: Light and Color, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, IL
1970 A Decade of California Color, Pace Gallery New York, NY
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