John Stezaker

John Stezaker
John Stezaker, Whitechapel Gallery monograph, 2011 (featuring XXXV, 2007)
Born	1948 (age 75–76) Worcester, England
Nationality	British
Education	Slade School of Art (London)
Known for	Conceptual art

John Grenville Stezaker (born 1948), is an English conceptual artist.

Overview

John Stezaker attended the Slade School of Art in London, graduating with a Higher Diploma in Fine Art in 1973. In the early 1970s, he was among the first wave of British conceptual artists to react against what was then the predominance of Pop art.

Solo exhibitions have been rare, however, in the mid-2000s, Stezaker's work was rediscovered by the art market; he is now collected by several international collectors and museums.

His work is surreal in tone and is often made using collage and the appropriation of pre-existing images such as postcards, film stills, and publicity photographs. Art historian Julian Stallabrass said, "The contrast at the heart of these works [by Stezaker] is not between represented and real, but between the unknowing primitives of popular culture, and the conscious, ironic artist and viewer of post-modern images." One work included in an exhibition at Salama-Caro Gallery, London, in 1991, depicted an image of a punch clock together with the caption "Why Spend Time on an Exhibition Like This?" Colin Gleadell wrote in The Daily Telegraph in 2007 that Stezaker "is now being hailed as a major influence on the Young British Art movement."

Until 2006, Stezaker was Senior Tutor in Critical and Historical Studies at the Royal College of Art in London. He is represented in London by The Approach Gallery.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

• Works, 1969–1971, Sigi Krauss Gallery, London, 1970 [cat.]
• Beyond Art for Art’s Sake: a Propus Mundus, Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, 1972 [cat.]
• The Museum of Modern Art Oxford, 1973
• Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, 1973.
• Galerie Decembre, Munster, 1974
• Galleria Lia Rumma, Rome, 1974
• Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples, 1974
• Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, 1975
• Galerie Éric Fabre, Paris, 1975
• Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, 1976
• Trois Oeuvres [Three Works], Galerie Éric Fabre, Paris, 1976 [cat.]
• Dream Allegories. John Stezaker Collages 1976-1977. Nigel Greenwood Gallery, London, 1977 [cat.]
• Galerie Éric Fabre, Paris, 1977
• Schema Gallery, Florence, 1977
• Spectro Arts, Newcastle, UK, 1977
• Fragments, Photographers' Gallery, London, 1978 [cat.]
• Collages, 1977–1978, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, 1978 [cat.]
• Southampton City Museum, Southampton, UK, 1978
• Galerie Éric Fabre, Paris, 1979
• Werke 1973-1978, Kuntsmueum Luzern, Kunstmuseum, Lucerne, Switzerland, 1979 [cat.]

Selected publications

• John Stezaker: One on One [2013], published by Ridinghouse in association with Tel Aviv Museum of Art.
• John Stezaker: Nude and Landscape [2013], published by Ridinghouse in association with Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia.
• John Stezaker: Film Still [2011], text and interview with David Campany and the artist. Published by Ridinghouse.
• John Stezaker [2011], published by Ridinghouse to accompany an exhibition at Whitechapel Gallery, London.
• John Stezaker: Silk Screens [2010], by Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith. Published by Ridinghouse.
• John Stezaker: Tabula Rasa [2010], published by Ridinghouse in association with The Approach.
• The 3rd Person Archive, John Stezaker [2009], published by Koenig Books.
• John Stezaker: Masks [2008], published by Ridinghouse in association with The Approach.
• John Stezaker: Marriage [2007], with an essay by Cecilia Järdemar. Published by Ridinghouse.

External links

• The approach: John Stezaker
• The Saatchi Gallery: John Stezaker
• Guardian: Artist of the week 72 (02/2010)
• Frieze: John Stezaker
• Interview with John Stezaker by Andrew Warstat : Parallax, Volume 16, Issue 2 May 2010 , pages 68 - 78
• Michael Newman on John Stezaker : Parallax, Volume 16, Issue 2 May 2010 , pages 79 - 86
• The Whitechapel Gallery: John Stezaker