Bob Zoell

Bob Zoell (born April 13, 1940) is an American fine artist, predominantly active in Los Angeles. As a painter, he is best known for his association to the Abstract Reductive Formalism movement. As an illustrator, he was a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine with seven published covers, as well as to Esquire and the Los Angeles Times. In 1987 his painting Zarathustra’s Cave II was selected for LACMA’s permanent collection).

Early life An art-collage portrait of Glenn Bray done by Gary Panter, Bob Zoell, Mick Haggerty and Lou Beach in 1985. Bob Zoell was born in Regina, Saskatchewan. At age 15, he began working for sign shops and publishing companies. In 1962, he emigrated to Los Angeles, with a design position at Richter & Mracky Design Associates. In 1966, he joined Saul Bass & Associates as an Art Director in charge of Corporate Identity and Packaging. In 1968, he opened his own design and illustration studio in Los Angeles, becoming internationally known for his pioneering work as an editorial illustrator for Esquire, Playboy, the Los Angeles Times, and others.

In the 1980s, Zoell started exhibiting at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, California State University Northridge, and the University of Southern California. In 1983, he was a featured artist in Domus magazine (Milan, Italy). In 1986, he exhibited murals on the new building of Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE), and a two-person show with Gary Panter at San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art.

Zoell's illustration work was featured on seven The New Yorker covers between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.

In 2011, Flag Stop Art Fair had a major survey of Zoell's work called Pictures and Words, curated by Howard Fox of LACMA. It featured nearly 50 large-scale paintings, prints, signs, and photo-documentation of Zoell's public art projects.

His work has been shown internationally in Japan and France. In 2010, he installed “bFiLrYd” (Bird Fly), a glass curtain wall on permanent display in the San Francisco International Airport. He also installed a 14’x100’ mural at the Denver Police Facility Firing Range. In 2012, he installed a 155’ ceramic mural at the Nashville Music City Center. In 2020, he installed a mural at PS 464 Elementary School in Manhattan, commissioned by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.