Born in New York City, Tony Berlant gained recognition in 1964 when he was honored with the Los Angeles Contemporary Art Council’s New Talent Purchase Award, marking a pivotal moment in his career. Berlant is renowned for his unique collages and metal cube sculptures, which are often made from found materials, particularly tin. His introduction to tin as an artistic medium came unexpectedly, inspired by a pile of discarded advertising signs he stumbled upon. Combining elements of painting and architecture, Berlant creates semi-abstract works with a fragmented, layered approach. As Kohn Gallery notes, he has been “instrumental in establishing the aesthetic sensibility of the West Coast Pop Art movement.”

Berlant pursued his education at UCLA, earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in painting, followed by a Master’s in sculpture in 1963. He later returned to teach at UCLA between 1965 and 1969, before building a distinguished career that has spanned six decades.

Beyond his artistic practice, Berlant has developed a deep passion for Mimbres pottery, the intricately painted ceramic works created by the Mimbres people of southwestern New Mexico between 850 and 1150 CE. In 1974, he co-founded the Mimbres Foundation, which was instrumental in creating the first comprehensive photographic archive of Mimbres figurative pottery. His dedication to this cultural heritage culminated in the inclusion of his personal collection in the 2018 LACMA exhibition, Decoding Mimbres Painting: Ancient Ceramics of the American Southwest, which he co-curated.

Berlant’s work has earned a place in some of the most prestigious art institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, cementing his legacy as a key figure in contemporary art.

Tony Berlant in his studio, 1982