Name John McKenzie | ||
John patrick mckenzie
John Patrick McKenzie (born 1962, Quezon City, Philippines) is an autistic San Francisco-based artist, known for creating works of visual poetry. His works have been exhibited internationally, including in New York, Europe, Australia, and Japan.
Contents
McKenzie’s process is based on a complex and mysterious repetitive sequencing. He methodically adds layers of nuance to each chosen subject, which is most often people and objects from pop culture, current events, and the artist’s immediate surroundings. Swirling, multi-angled, and disorienting, the placement of McKenzie’s language comments on the contradictory, sometimes overwhelming, nature of media attention and celebrity.
McKenzie is tirelessly engaged with sorting through the cyclical likes and dislikes of Hollywood, fashion, marketing, and the geo-political. And, like his artwork, the true nature of our information saturated world can be difficult to decode; but, ultimately, what McKenzie’s work reveals is that we are all people, we are all aging, we all like some things and dislike others, and we all need to communicate.
Works
McKenzie's works typically are made up of variations on a theme sentence scrawled in black ink on white paper, though he sometimes uses color or writes on other materials. He writes in a stereotyped font in which all letters are filled in. Pop cultural or political icons figure prominently his works, which always feature a repeating prompt, for example:
George Lucas is full of Luke Skywalker They are full of holy Europe
George Lucas is full of Burger King They are full of holy Asia
George Lucas is full of stars They are full of holy Australia
George Lucas if full of movies
Exhibition Highlights
Solo Exhibitions
2011
John Patrick McKenzie Is Culture Humbug Sexy, Brett McDowell Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
They Are Full of Holy Nonsense, Creativity Explored, San Francisco
2009
John Patrick McKenzie's Famous Artworks, Brett McDowell Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
2008
Most Culture Humbug Sexy People Like John Patrick McKenzie, Monster Children, Sydney, Australia
Selected Exhibitions
2014
Way Out West, The Art City Project, San Francisco, CA
2012
Create, Cantor Art Gallery, Worchester, Massachusetts
Out of Order, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
ArtPadSF, Phoenix Hotel, San Francisco, California
FAX, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, California
Parallel Visions, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2011
After Shelley Duvall ’72, Maccarone, New York, New York
Create, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
4 Real 4 Faux Animating the Vernacular, Truman University, Kirksville, Missouri
Black and White and Read All Over, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2010
Where Are We?, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
Paper!Awesome!, Baer Ridgeway, San Francisco, California
2009
Words, Verses and Garabatos, San Francisco City College, San Francisco, California
Repetition, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
TV and Me, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2008
Art Repurposed, Thoreau Center, San Francisco, California
Tasty, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
one of these does not belong, Adobe Books, San Francisco, California
Quarter Century, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
Without Borders: Outsider Art in An Antipodean Context, Monash University, Australia
2007
GROUNDED?, Intersection for the Arts and Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California
Shadowshine, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
Seeing Memory, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2006
The Beat Goes on, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
CA Calligraphy Summit, SFSU Art Gallery, San Francisco, California
Drawing the Line, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2004
Radiant Spaces: Private Domain, Track 16, Los Angeles, California
Outside Insight, The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California
Contextual, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2000
Created in California, Lorri Berenberg Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1998
Whipper Snapper Nerd, Bronwyn Keenan Gallery, New York, New York
Whipper Snapper Nerd, Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1997
Whipper Snapper Nerd, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California
Reception
McKenzie is considered to be a "rising star" in the world of outsider art. He work has been shown around the world, both in group exhibitions of outsider works (for example in Australia) and is solo shows.
Collaborators and Collectors
Tracy Chapman
Michael Stripe
UC Berkeley Art Museum