Past Exhibitions

For nearly 40 years, until 1956, each senior class selected, purchased and donated works of art to the school, ultimately amassing an exceptional permanent collection of paintings in the Impressionist, figurative and landscape genres. Each painting was carefully selected and purchased from an artist of note, often reflecting historical content from that year. The high level of sophistication demonstrated by the students’ choices was the result of the aesthetic discourse and collaboration nurtured by the school.

Defining Beauty, CMATO’s third annual international juried exhibition, features painting, mixed-media and video works by Zara Monet Feeney, Francene Levinson and Sungjae Lee. The artists were selected from nearly 1,000 submissions in all visual media as part of the museum’s open call.

Opening in 2021, Jonathan Michael Castillo: Car Culture, is the first solo museum exhibition of the artist’s work and features his arresting, candid photographs that capture Los Angeles’s driving culture.

Life Interrupted is the result of an art competition initiated by the California Museum of Art Thousand Oaks (CMATO) to capture the perspective of Generation Z artists. Generation Z is defined by people born after 1997, and who will turn ages 8 to 23 in 2020.

October 18, 2019 to March 29, 2020

Empathy: Beneath the Surface presents a multi-disciplinary perspective on the idea of empathy and personal agency, with works that explore the universal themes that confront, and ultimately bind, us.

Through six distinct gallery spaces covering 5,000 sq feet, visitors will view paintings, sculpture, virtual reality, mix-media installation, photography and tapestries all bound together by the idea of empathy and personal agency.

Featuring: Hung Liu, John Nava, Simphiwe Ndzube, Ami Vitale, Marisa Caichiolo, Marjorie Salvaterra and Tom Everhart.

May 9, 2019 to September 4, 2019

Writing under the pseudonym RISK, Graval rose to prominence as the originator of a bright, colorful, west coast graffiti style. Graval’s mixed-media work follows in the rich tradition of Pop Art. Iconography from Buddhism, rock and roll, advertising, and cartoons figure prominently in his work. Working in neon translates his bright palette into light while painting on metal calls back to the many nights spent in the rail yards of Los Angeles County. Graval’s work plays with visual and material juxtapositions to both draw in and push back on the viewer. Metal, lights, paint, grit, and shine are the materials of Graval’s practice and the materials of the city that raised him.

February 21, 2019 to September 4, 2019

This exhibition is about the art of photography and the transformative impact an artist can have on an individual and society. In Lawrence Janss’ exquisite collection of Ansel Adams works, visitors will encounter the most popular landscape photographs in history.

November 8, 2018 to February 17, 2019

Kevin Sloan is a Denver based painter whose work is characterized by a deep reverence for the natural world. Sloan’s allegorical realism, a term he has coined to refer to his use of objects and environments that are painted in a realistic way but because of the inclusion of unexpected elements, the narrative in the work takes on an allegorical quality. His work is found in numerous private and public collections worldwide including the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Phoenix Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, Tampa Museum of Art and the Tucson Museum of Art.

July 12, 2018 to September 7, 2018​

Power is CMATO’s 2nd Annual International Juried Art Exhibition. Featuring Michele Benjamin-Miki with contributing artists Douglass Turner, Luciana Abait, and David E. Weed.

January 19, 2018 to April 15, 2018

Strings: Data and the Self, is the West Coast premiere exhibition of groundbreaking new media artists that challenge “traditional” notions of art making. Strings explores the manner in which data increasingly determines our behavior, our interactions and our overall relationship to the Self.