Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA)
Founded in 1962 by thirteen visionary women, the Orange County Museum of Art (OCMA) emerged from a shared belief in the need for a space to showcase contemporary art in Orange County. With a history rooted in supporting living artists and presenting innovative exhibitions, OCMA has shaped the modern art landscape. Originally known as the Newport Harbor Art Museum, it has continually evolved to provide transformative experiences for its visitors. Now housed in a striking new building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis Studio at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, OCMA remains a vital cultural hub, pushing the boundaries of art through its collections, exhibitions, and groundbreaking programming.
Jon Serl – As One, As Many
Painter Jon Serl (b. 1894, Olean, NY; d. 1993, Lake Elsinore, CA) lived a life as vivid and unconventional as his artistic practice. A former vaudeville performer, Hollywood voice actor, firefighter, and gardener who reinvented himself as a painter after World War II, Serl spent decades in California, particularly in San Juan Capistrano and Lake Elsinore, creating expressive works on scavenged materials. His paintings—filled with free-form figures, vibrant color, and eccentric theatricality—reflect a deeply personal world and an unyielding search for truth beyond convention.
Starting from the 1940s, the exhibition traces Serl’s transformation from depicting the external world of rural Southern California to conjuring an interior landscape shaped by perception, imagination, and memory, evolving alongside the shifting cultural and social currents of the 20th century. For Serl, painting was an act of discovery, mirroring his own restless search through life. As he once said: “The painting is inside. I just find it.”
The Orange County Museum of Art is located at 3333 Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa, CA 92626. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit www.ocma.art
