Biography

John Sproul (b. Los Angeles, CA) makes work using family, friends, and people he encounters in places he frequents to examine how we share spaces, expressing the fear, anxiety, self-doubt, loneliness and resilience he sees in himself and in those around him. 

Sproul earned a BFA from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT.

The artist has held 28 solo exhibitions and participated in over 120 group exhibitions internationally. These include notable venues such as the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art in Salt Lake City, The Painting Center in New York, the CICA Museum in Gimpo, South Korea, Bipolar Projects in Barcelona, Galerie Metanoia in Paris, The Kunstwerk Carlshutte in Germany, the Imagoars Center for Visual Arts in Venice, Italy, and the Sienna Art Institute in Italy.

As an arts advocate, he served on the Executive Committee of the UMFA's FOCA from 2006 to 2013, acting as Chair in 2013. He founded and directed the Foster Art Program from 2009 to 2011 and the Utah Contemporary Art Think Tank from 2010 to 2011. He also owned and directed Nox Contemporary Art Gallery from 2010 to 2022, served on the board of Southwest Contemporary Art Magazine from 2023 to 2024, and has been the director of The Art Group since 2007.

In 2026, he presented a two-person exhibition at the Fitton Center for Creative Arts and participated in group exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Springville Museum of Art, Greenwich Art Society, Mapspace and Material Contemporary. He also attended the Critlab/Rural Residency for Contemporary Art in Venice and the Valcamonica Valley, Italy. His work was featured in the May issue of Vogue Korea, and he was awarded a grant from the Puffin Foundation. His solo exhibition, Distantly Near, will open in December at the George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Gallery in Salt Lake City, Utah.