Artist's statement: I like Paris. I like Henrietta. Art speaks for itself.

Philosophically: Art is Existential. Art is Assertion. Art is Intention. Art is all of the above. Art is none of the above.


Born in Los Angeles to parents employed in the motion picture industry, Wiesenthal spent his first formative years in a creative environment and has stayed in a creative place ever since as an artist, musician and writer.

In addition to academic studies in liberal arts, he studied and worked with the following artists: Ernest Rosenthal at Glenn Yost's life studio in Hollywood, Alan Kaprow, Ed Countey, and Nam June Paik at SUNY Stony Brook and Cal Arts. While still in college, he worked with illustrator Randall Enos animating promos for NBC's Movie of the Week. Most recent study has been in the use of oils with painter Steve Carpenter in Rochester.

John has drawn and painted every day of his life since childhood. Violin lessons at seven, trumpet at nine and French horn and guitar at twelve he pursued music professionally, chairing the Guitar Department of the Hochstein Music School.

Introduced to the guitar at a summer arts camp, he took his first lesson from folk-music legend Pete Seeger at age 12. At 16, he passed what he learned along the way to surfing buddy Jackson Browne. By 20, philosophy student John Wiesenthal and Richard Meltzer, now the laureate of Rock writers, started the band known today as the Blue Oyster Cult.

John studied guitar with the Venezuelan master Rodrigo Riera and the renowned teacher Emilio Pujol, and earned graduate degrees in music composition. John’s first performance on national television was a banjo gig for a celebration of music by black composers. He serenaded Ronald Reagan at a farewell dinner for the Governor of California.

Having traveled and sketched throughout Europe, Wiesenthal has become especially familiar with France, its music, history, literature and art. His drawings and watercolors from his Paris Sketchbook will be featured in April, 2011 at the Galerie du Colombier in Paris.

Email: