John O. Wehrle (artist)
Encyclopedia
John Wehrle is an American artist currently living in Richmond, CA
. Wehrle is best known as a mural
ist and site-specific installation artist, predominately active in California
. Proficient in painting, sculpture
and photography
, his work is in public and private collections. Several of his exterior mural works, Fall of Icarus', Positively Fourth Street, Galileo Jupiter Apollo achieved underground iconic status during their existence. Wehrle’s interior murals and surviving installations have been internationally collected.
, where he was Captain of the Aggie Band, receiving a commission in the US Army Signal Corps. He served in Europe during WWII
with the Ordinance Division, promoted to Major. Upon returning to civilian life he entered the feed business in Mineola, Texas
, becoming Sales Manager for progressively larger companies in different Texas cities until his retirement in 1980. Betty Wehrle, a journalism graduate from Baylor University
, began a second career as an educator in the '60s, eventually serving as a dean of El Centro College
in Dallas, Texas
. Both won numerous awards in their field.
Growing up in various Texas
towns and cities, John Wehrle developed artistic skills to compensate for constantly being the new kid on the block. Living in Waco, Texas
as a teenager, he participated in a nationally recognized youth theater at Baylor University
. Fellow students in the program included Robert Wilson, now celebrated avant-garde theater director. He attended Texas Tech University
in Lubbock, Texas
where he was cartoonist for the school paper and named outstanding senior art student there. Actively showing work during his later school years, he was accepted in exhibitions of the Texas Fine Arts Association and had work purchased by the Dallas Museum of Art
. At his father’s insistence he was enrolled in ROTC
.
Following graduation he was commissioned a Lieutenant
in the US Army
and served 22 months at Sacramento Army depot managing the Zero Defects program and the Officers club, before being chosen for the Vietnam Combat Artists Program's
first Combat Art Team sent to Vietnam
in July 1966. As officer in charge of Team One, he was responsible for choosing locations to visit, arranging transportation and explaining the team’s mission to Public Information Officers throughout the country. Wehrle designed the unofficial combat art pin later adopted by other teams. Team One artists were : John Wehrle, Roger Blum, Paul Rickert, Robert Knight and Ronald Pepin. Felix Sanchez joined the team in Hawaii. Following two months of sketching and photographing in various provinces with different units, Team One was flown to Hawaii
and given warehouse studio space at Schofield Barracks to create finished paintings of their experience for the Army’s Military History Division. He then returned to Sacramento Army Depot to serve the final months of his service.
in Brooklyn, New York. There, in collaboration with fellow students, he helped devise a multimedia theatrical experience involving film, dance, and projections in a theater designed by James Petrillo
.
After graduation in 1969, Wehrle moved to San Francisco, where he taught at the De Young Museum
and California College of Arts and Crafts
. In 1973, he quit his teaching position to follow an opportunity to build a wilderness log cabin in Montana
. After a winter in Whiskey Gulch, he returned to the Bay Area, where he worked as a baker and carpenter for a brief time. He was hired under the comprehensive Employees Training Act in 1974 to work, once again, at the De Young Museum
. Here Wehrle devised and painted his first exterior mural EB-1942, a 16x 48 oil painting on panels drawn from his Montana
experiences.
During this project, he met painter John Rampley and together they designed and painted the second mural Positively Fourth Street in the De Young staff parking lot in 1976. Wehrle describes the inspiration for this painting as the result of being stuck in rush hour traffic on the 101 freeway approach to the Bay Bridge.
Following this period of relative stability Wehrle resumed his nomadic existence, moving between Montana
and Los Angeles
. In 1978 he received a California Arts Council grant to paint Fall of Icarus on a 20x90 foot wall in Venice Beach'. During this period, he met other members of the Los Angeles
mural movement, Terry Schoonhoven, Vic Henderson, Art Mortimer, Kent Twitchell and Judy Baca. After painting a private commission for movie producer Carl Borack on his residence in Beverly Hills
, Wehrle moved back to Bay Area. There he painted Ancisco, on the wall of a Berkeley bakery, the first of many projects still extant in California.
In 1980, scientists Tom White and Kary Mullis
commissioned Wehrle to paint a mural for their biotech lab at newly formed Cetus Corporation
. After completing and installing Return of Jonah, Cetus CEO, Ron Cape commissioned Wehrle to paint …paging Dr. Crick in situ at their Berkeley
Headquarters. Subsequently these paintings were transferred, along with the furniture, to Chiron Corporation
; later Novartis
bought the company. The paintings have now been moved to the Novartis corporate collection in Switzerland, no longer viewable by the general public. Kary Mullis later won the Nobel Prize
for his discovery of Polymerase chain reaction
. An image of Return of Jonah serves as the home page header of the PCR website and is also used as the cover of Paul Rabinow’s
entertaining story of Cetus’s scientific milieu, Making PCR.
In 1983 Wehrle was chosen as one of 10 official muralists for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games
in Los Angeles
. These were the first artworks that Caltrans
allowed directly on the freeway. Richard Wyatt, Alonzo Davis Judy Baca, Kent Twitchell Glenna Boltuch, Roderick Sykes, Terry Schoonhoven, Willie Heron, Frank Romero, and John Wehrle were each commissioned to decorate retaining walls on the 110 and 101 freeways connecting the Olympic venues. The works survived until the mid '90s, when graffiti
tagging took its toll on the public works. In 2004 the state of California
funded restoration of some of the murals including Galileo, Jupiter, Apollo. Subsequent vandalism
caused Caltrans
to paint over the artworks, substituting smaller digital prints on their previous locations. This has been a somewhat controversial issue, as yet unresolved.
During the '80s Wehrle exhibited work with Koplin Gallery. This led to a commission Knockout for Kate Mantilini Restaurant, a modern day roadhouse on Wilshire and Doheney in Los Angeles, designed by Morphosis architects for owner Marilyn Lewis. The building was given a Progressive Architecture Award and architect Thom Mayne
later won the Pritzker Prize. Wehrle also completed War and Peace TV a 14-unit installation of hand crafted wooden TV sculptures containing die-cut outlines of iconic images of the Vietnam War
including a helicopter
and the Pulitzer Prize
-winning photograph of the execution of a Viet Cong suspect. He again used the TV format in a piece titled Saigon Rotomatic Managua that contained a figure of a Viet Cong that revolved to reveal the face of a Sandanista
. These were exhibited in various venues including an exhibit entitled The War Room at the Intersection for the Arts gallery in San Francisco, culminating in A Different War, a national traveling exhibition, curated by Lucy Lippard.
During the '90s Wehrle accomplished a number of corporate and civic commissions including banks, libraries, shopping malls and convention centers. Scribes, a visual narrative installation integrated throughout Los Angeles’ Mid Valley Public Library, received an award of excellence from that city. He began painting the first of a series of freeway overpass mural gateways for the City of Richmond
. Wehrle continued exhibiting at galleries and art centers in San Francisco and Los Angeles
. He had a Djerassi residency in 1998.
Since 2000 Wehrle has worked steadily on public art projects, primarily on the West Coast of the United States. He has been creating murals and gateways for the cities of Richmond
, Hayward
, Dublin
, and Pinole
, alongside interior installations for Ocean View Library, Encino Fire Station #83 and other California
locations. He received a grant from the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation to create a series of nine murals depicting important scientific discoveries and contributions to the fine arts of alumnae of the University of California, Riverside
. He also produced Neptune’s Ghost, a time blended painting of historic Neptune Beach and present day shoppers in Alameda, California
. Other works include Mak Roote, a landmark installation for Berkeley Transit Plaza. Featuring poetic words by Betsy Davids and images by Wehrle, that include native Ohlone, union railroad porters, writer Chiori Santiago and humanitarian clown Wavy Gravy, the work was given an award by the city of Berkeley
. Recent works include installations in public schools for Washington State Arts Commission, murals for Richmond’s City Council Chambers and the newly restored Richmond Plunge.
In 2003 Wehrle worked under art supervisor Kurt Wold to create murals with inmates at Vacaville State Prison and painted with Daniel Galvez and John Pugh four extensive murals under Dublin, California
overpasses. He has served on Richmond, California
’s public art advisory committee and board of directors of the Richmond Art Center.
In 2006 Wehrle was given a lifetime achievement award by AC5, Contra Costa
’s Arts and Culture Commission.
In November 2011 Wehrle presented "Rising Tide: A Post-Cautionary Tale, a Work in Progress" as artist-in-residence at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, California.
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
. Wehrle is best known as a mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
ist and site-specific installation artist, predominately active in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Proficient in painting, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, his work is in public and private collections. Several of his exterior mural works, Fall of Icarus', Positively Fourth Street, Galileo Jupiter Apollo achieved underground iconic status during their existence. Wehrle’s interior murals and surviving installations have been internationally collected.
Early Years and education
Wehrle is the son of an educator and a salesman. His father, Larry Wehrle, graduated from Texas A&MTexas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
, where he was Captain of the Aggie Band, receiving a commission in the US Army Signal Corps. He served in Europe during WWII
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
with the Ordinance Division, promoted to Major. Upon returning to civilian life he entered the feed business in Mineola, Texas
Mineola, Texas
Mineola is a city in Wood County, Texas, United States. It lies at the junction of U.S. highways 69 and 80, eighty miles east of Dallas in southwestern Wood County...
, becoming Sales Manager for progressively larger companies in different Texas cities until his retirement in 1980. Betty Wehrle, a journalism graduate from Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
, began a second career as an educator in the '60s, eventually serving as a dean of El Centro College
El Centro College
El Centro College is a community college of the Dallas County Community College District , located at 801 Main Street in downtown Dallas, Texas across Lamar Street from the Bank of America Plaza...
in Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. Both won numerous awards in their field.
Growing up in various Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
towns and cities, John Wehrle developed artistic skills to compensate for constantly being the new kid on the block. Living in Waco, Texas
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
as a teenager, he participated in a nationally recognized youth theater at Baylor University
Baylor University
Baylor University is a private, Christian university located in Waco, Texas. Founded in 1845, Baylor is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.-History:...
. Fellow students in the program included Robert Wilson, now celebrated avant-garde theater director. He attended Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...
in Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
where he was cartoonist for the school paper and named outstanding senior art student there. Actively showing work during his later school years, he was accepted in exhibitions of the Texas Fine Arts Association and had work purchased by the Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Museum of Art
The Dallas Museum of Art is a major art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, USA, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In 1984, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Arts District, Dallas, Texas...
. At his father’s insistence he was enrolled in ROTC
Reserve Officers' Training Corps
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps is a college-based, officer commissioning program, predominantly in the United States. It is designed as a college elective that focuses on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning, and professional ethics.The U.S...
.
Military Service and Combat Art Program
.Following graduation he was commissioned a Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the US Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
and served 22 months at Sacramento Army depot managing the Zero Defects program and the Officers club, before being chosen for the Vietnam Combat Artists Program's
Vietnam Combat Artists Program
In June 1966, the Army Vietnam Combat Artists Program was established as part of the United States Army Art Program, utilizing teams of soldier-artists to make pictorial records of U.S. Army activities in the course of the Vietnam War for the annals of military history. The concept of the Vietnam...
first Combat Art Team sent to Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
in July 1966. As officer in charge of Team One, he was responsible for choosing locations to visit, arranging transportation and explaining the team’s mission to Public Information Officers throughout the country. Wehrle designed the unofficial combat art pin later adopted by other teams. Team One artists were : John Wehrle, Roger Blum, Paul Rickert, Robert Knight and Ronald Pepin. Felix Sanchez joined the team in Hawaii. Following two months of sketching and photographing in various provinces with different units, Team One was flown to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
and given warehouse studio space at Schofield Barracks to create finished paintings of their experience for the Army’s Military History Division. He then returned to Sacramento Army Depot to serve the final months of his service.
Post Military Art Career
After Wehrle’s discharge he enrolled in a MFA graduate program at Pratt InstitutePratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
in Brooklyn, New York. There, in collaboration with fellow students, he helped devise a multimedia theatrical experience involving film, dance, and projections in a theater designed by James Petrillo
James Petrillo
James Caesar Petrillo was the prominent leader of the American Federation of Musicians, a trade union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada.-Biography:Petrillo was born in Chicago, Illinois...
.
After graduation in 1969, Wehrle moved to San Francisco, where he taught at the De Young Museum
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, commonly called simply the de Young Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It is named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H...
and California College of Arts and Crafts
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...
. In 1973, he quit his teaching position to follow an opportunity to build a wilderness log cabin in Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
. After a winter in Whiskey Gulch, he returned to the Bay Area, where he worked as a baker and carpenter for a brief time. He was hired under the comprehensive Employees Training Act in 1974 to work, once again, at the De Young Museum
M. H. de Young Memorial Museum
The M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, commonly called simply the de Young Museum, is a fine arts museum located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. It is named for early San Francisco newspaperman M. H...
. Here Wehrle devised and painted his first exterior mural EB-1942, a 16x 48 oil painting on panels drawn from his Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
experiences.
During this project, he met painter John Rampley and together they designed and painted the second mural Positively Fourth Street in the De Young staff parking lot in 1976. Wehrle describes the inspiration for this painting as the result of being stuck in rush hour traffic on the 101 freeway approach to the Bay Bridge.
Following this period of relative stability Wehrle resumed his nomadic existence, moving between Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. In 1978 he received a California Arts Council grant to paint Fall of Icarus on a 20x90 foot wall in Venice Beach'. During this period, he met other members of the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
mural movement, Terry Schoonhoven, Vic Henderson, Art Mortimer, Kent Twitchell and Judy Baca. After painting a private commission for movie producer Carl Borack on his residence in Beverly Hills
Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is an affluent city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. With a population of 34,109 at the 2010 census, up from 33,784 as of the 2000 census, it is home to numerous Hollywood celebrities. Beverly Hills and the neighboring city of West Hollywood are together...
, Wehrle moved back to Bay Area. There he painted Ancisco, on the wall of a Berkeley bakery, the first of many projects still extant in California.
In 1980, scientists Tom White and Kary Mullis
Kary Mullis
Kary Banks Mullis is a Nobel Prize winning American biochemist, author, and lecturer. In recognition of his improvement of the polymerase chain reaction technique, he shared the 1993 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Michael Smith and earned the Japan Prize in the same year. The process was first...
commissioned Wehrle to paint a mural for their biotech lab at newly formed Cetus Corporation
Cetus Corporation
Cetus Corporation was one of the first biotechnology companies. It was established in Berkeley, California in 1971, but conducted most of its operations in nearby Emeryville. Before merging with another company in 1991, it developed several significant pharmaceutical drugs as well as a...
. After completing and installing Return of Jonah, Cetus CEO, Ron Cape commissioned Wehrle to paint …paging Dr. Crick in situ at their Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
Headquarters. Subsequently these paintings were transferred, along with the furniture, to Chiron Corporation
Chiron Corporation
Chiron Corporation was a multinational biotechnology firm based in Emeryville, California that was acquired by Novartis International AG on April 20, 2006. It had offices and facilities in eighteen countries on five continents. Chiron's business and research was in three main areas:...
; later Novartis
Novartis
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
bought the company. The paintings have now been moved to the Novartis corporate collection in Switzerland, no longer viewable by the general public. Kary Mullis later won the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
for his discovery of Polymerase chain reaction
Polymerase chain reaction
The polymerase chain reaction is a scientific technique in molecular biology to amplify a single or a few copies of a piece of DNA across several orders of magnitude, generating thousands to millions of copies of a particular DNA sequence....
. An image of Return of Jonah serves as the home page header of the PCR website and is also used as the cover of Paul Rabinow’s
Paul Rabinow
Paul Rabinow is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California , Director of the Anthropology of the Contemporary Research Collaboratory , and former Director of Human Practices for the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center...
entertaining story of Cetus’s scientific milieu, Making PCR.
In 1983 Wehrle was chosen as one of 10 official muralists for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. These were the first artworks that Caltrans
California Department of Transportation
The California Department of Transportation is a government department in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems throughout the state...
allowed directly on the freeway. Richard Wyatt, Alonzo Davis Judy Baca, Kent Twitchell Glenna Boltuch, Roderick Sykes, Terry Schoonhoven, Willie Heron, Frank Romero, and John Wehrle were each commissioned to decorate retaining walls on the 110 and 101 freeways connecting the Olympic venues. The works survived until the mid '90s, when graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
tagging took its toll on the public works. In 2004 the state of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
funded restoration of some of the murals including Galileo, Jupiter, Apollo. Subsequent vandalism
Vandalism
Vandalism is the behaviour attributed originally to the Vandals, by the Romans, in respect of culture: ruthless destruction or spoiling of anything beautiful or venerable...
caused Caltrans
California Department of Transportation
The California Department of Transportation is a government department in the U.S. state of California. Its mission is to improve mobility across the state. It manages the state highway system and is actively involved with public transportation systems throughout the state...
to paint over the artworks, substituting smaller digital prints on their previous locations. This has been a somewhat controversial issue, as yet unresolved.
During the '80s Wehrle exhibited work with Koplin Gallery. This led to a commission Knockout for Kate Mantilini Restaurant, a modern day roadhouse on Wilshire and Doheney in Los Angeles, designed by Morphosis architects for owner Marilyn Lewis. The building was given a Progressive Architecture Award and architect Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne
Thom Mayne is a Los Angeles-based architect. Educated at University of Southern California and the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in 1978, Mayne helped found the Southern California Institute of Architecture in 1972, where he is a trustee...
later won the Pritzker Prize. Wehrle also completed War and Peace TV a 14-unit installation of hand crafted wooden TV sculptures containing die-cut outlines of iconic images of the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
including a helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
and the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning photograph of the execution of a Viet Cong suspect. He again used the TV format in a piece titled Saigon Rotomatic Managua that contained a figure of a Viet Cong that revolved to reveal the face of a Sandanista
Sandinista National Liberation Front
The Sandinista National Liberation Front is a socialist political party in Nicaragua. Its members are called Sandinistas in both English and Spanish...
. These were exhibited in various venues including an exhibit entitled The War Room at the Intersection for the Arts gallery in San Francisco, culminating in A Different War, a national traveling exhibition, curated by Lucy Lippard.
During the '90s Wehrle accomplished a number of corporate and civic commissions including banks, libraries, shopping malls and convention centers. Scribes, a visual narrative installation integrated throughout Los Angeles’ Mid Valley Public Library, received an award of excellence from that city. He began painting the first of a series of freeway overpass mural gateways for the City of Richmond
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
. Wehrle continued exhibiting at galleries and art centers in San Francisco and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. He had a Djerassi residency in 1998.
Since 2000 Wehrle has worked steadily on public art projects, primarily on the West Coast of the United States. He has been creating murals and gateways for the cities of Richmond
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
, Hayward
Hayward, California
Hayward is a city located in the East Bay in Alameda County, California. With a population of 144,186, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the San Francisco Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda County. Hayward was ranked as the 37th most populous municipality in California. It is included in...
, Dublin
Dublin, California
Dublin is a suburban city of the East Bay region of Alameda County, California, United States. Located along the north side of Interstate 580 at the intersection with Interstate 680, roughly east of Hayward, west of Livermore and north of San Jose, it was named after the city of Dublin in...
, and Pinole
Pinole, California
Pinole is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The population was 18,390 at the 2010 census. It is one of many small “bedroom communities” along the I-80 corridor in Western Contra Costa County. It is located about northeast of San Francisco, and approximately a half-hour...
, alongside interior installations for Ocean View Library, Encino Fire Station #83 and other California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
locations. He received a grant from the Maxwell H. Gluck Foundation to create a series of nine murals depicting important scientific discoveries and contributions to the fine arts of alumnae of the University of California, Riverside
University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside, commonly known as UCR or UC Riverside, is a public research university and one of the ten general campuses of the University of California system. UCR is consistently ranked as one of the most ethnically and economically diverse universities in the United...
. He also produced Neptune’s Ghost, a time blended painting of historic Neptune Beach and present day shoppers in Alameda, California
Alameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...
. Other works include Mak Roote, a landmark installation for Berkeley Transit Plaza. Featuring poetic words by Betsy Davids and images by Wehrle, that include native Ohlone, union railroad porters, writer Chiori Santiago and humanitarian clown Wavy Gravy, the work was given an award by the city of Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
. Recent works include installations in public schools for Washington State Arts Commission, murals for Richmond’s City Council Chambers and the newly restored Richmond Plunge.
In 2003 Wehrle worked under art supervisor Kurt Wold to create murals with inmates at Vacaville State Prison and painted with Daniel Galvez and John Pugh four extensive murals under Dublin, California
Dublin, California
Dublin is a suburban city of the East Bay region of Alameda County, California, United States. Located along the north side of Interstate 580 at the intersection with Interstate 680, roughly east of Hayward, west of Livermore and north of San Jose, it was named after the city of Dublin in...
overpasses. He has served on Richmond, California
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
’s public art advisory committee and board of directors of the Richmond Art Center.
In 2006 Wehrle was given a lifetime achievement award by AC5, Contra Costa
Contra Costa County, California
Contra Costa County is a primarily suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 1,049,025...
’s Arts and Culture Commission.
In November 2011 Wehrle presented "Rising Tide: A Post-Cautionary Tale, a Work in Progress" as artist-in-residence at the De Young Museum in San Francisco, California.