Ed Moses

Ed Moses is a Los Angeles based artist who is considered as one of the most innovative artists of postwar West Coast. In 1957, he exhibited at the famous Ferus Gallery along with prominent artists Wallace Berman, Billy Al Bengston, Robert Irwin, Craig Kauffman, John Altoon, Larry Bell, and Ed Ruscha.

Moses was born on April 9, 1926 on a ship while his mother was sailing from Hawaii to Long Beach, California. At the age of 17, Moses dropped out of school and enlisted in the Navy. He was accepted into the Navy Medical Corps where he served as a scrub assistant until the age of 22. Upon leaving the Navy Medical Corps he pursued a pre-med program at Long Beach City College. Although he was very intelligent, he was not accepted into medical school due to his poor memorization skills. Lost and confused, Moses decided to enroll in an art class with Pedro Miller who was the first to declare Moses “a real artist.”

Moses jumped around to various universities for a number of years while working odd jobs. Eventually, Moses graduated from UCLA with his master’s degree in Art. He sparked controversy among the faculty at UCLA for presenting his final show at the Ferus Gallery instead of on campus. He became the second artist to have a solo show at the Ferus Gallery.

Post graduation, Moses moved to New York for a short time. While living in New York, Moses immersed himself in the art scene of the late 1950’s, connecting himself with very influential artists of that time. Moses married Avilda Peters in 1959 and then moved to Virgina to start their family. Even while living on the other side of the country, Moses maintained a close relationship with art scene of California and returned to teach at University of California, Irvine in 1968.

Throughout his career, Moses would return to an emphasis on process in his art work. Moses’ experimentation with material and process lead to positive reviews from the famous art critic, Clement Greenberg and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1980. Today, Moses continues to produce works of art, resisting any specific past or current style and maintaining a truly unique mode of artistic experimentation.