John Outterbridge, Who Turned Castoffs Into Sculpture, Dies at 87
Leftover wood, rags, rusted metal all were his materials, and pieced together as assemblages, they told stories about history, about culture and about him.
John Outterbridge outside the Watts Towers Art Center in Los Angeles in 1991. He was a leading practitioner of the pieced-together mixed-medium sculpture known as assemblage.Credit.Bart Bartholomew for The New York Times
Jan. 1, 2021
LOS ANGELES John Outterbridge, a Los Angeles cultural leader and artist who made powerful sculptures from what is usually dismissed as junk or castoffs a means of exploring loaded social issues as well as celebrating a history of African-American resourcefulness died here on Nov. 12. He was 87.