John Outterbridge, a central figure in the Black assemblage arts movement and former director of the Watts Towers Arts Center, has died in Los Angeles. Outterbridge came to know assemblage through his handyman father, an avid salvager who filled his family’s backyard with items from the junk trade. Rags became something I always wanted to use.”In 1963, two years before the Watts riots, Outterbridge moved to L.A. He befriended artist Noah Purifoy, co-founder of the Watts Towers Arts Center and father of the Black assemblage movement. And in 2012, the California African American Museum honored Outterbridge with a lifetime achievement award alongside actor and director Sidney Poitier.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 24, 2020 02:03 UTC