Biography

Edward Kienholz was born in Fairfield, WA in 1927. He studied at a handful of universities on the West Coast, but never completed a degree or got any formal art training. In 1953 he moved to Los Angeles, where he opened the Now Gallery in 1956. A year later, in 1957, he closed the Now Gallery and opened the Ferus Gallery with graduate students Walter Hopps and Bob Alexander. He managed the gallery during the day and work in the backroom, which was also his studio, while he was there. One of the galleries earliest exhibitions included paintings by Kienholz, Jay DeFeo, and John Altoon.