John Cake
Manchester
Artist, whose work is an attempt to process the psychological impacts inflicted by capitalism, patriarchy and class conditioning.
Neurowonky, Northern scum, abstract, absurdism.
I’m a child of 70s/80s North West England, where punk was a spirit, not a pose.
Where Hip Hop, House and Techno resonated and thrived.
Where life was and still is brutally irrational.
(Scally, DIY, remix, laugh.)
My works are a way of mapping and processing the symptoms of living my life artistically and autistically.
I revel in the perverse pleasure that I find meaning in society’s debris, errors and redundancies.
I flip between digital and analogue techniques to abstract, clip, collide and layer these elements.
They coalesce into a wild-style-mind-map, a calligraphic vibrant web of visual fragments that resist and relinquish authority.
A model cannon protrudes from a pile of rubble.
Soviet Pooh dawdles beneath an Ultra’s burning scooter.
Potato-snack-based omens lie ensnared as kit-designs are ruined by sponsors.
I largely make this art for myself, to create an illogical nonsense, to refocus my intentions. But for you, I want my work to induce a state where your certainties are thrown off-kilter yet inspire optimism and joy.
Education
BA Hons Fine Art, University of Leeds
Selected Exhibitions
2023 — Dead Cats and a Kinky Bus Pass — HOME, Manchester
2022 — Bankley Open 2022 — Bankley Gallery, Manchester
2022 — TBH Cats (late + current) — The Edge, Manchester
2022 — round the corner, down the stairs — PaintingWriting, Manchester
2020 — Mcr Open — Home, Manchester
2019 — Paintings — Comme Ca, Manchester
2018 — Winter Exhibition — Comme Ca, Manchester
2015 — Les moissons de la cité — Space Collection, Liege
2011 — We Were Young and Immortal — Good Friday, Brussels
2011 — Space Collection — Atelierhaus, Aachen
2009 — Auckland Festival — Seed Gallery, Auckland
2009 — The English Lounge — Tang Contemporary, Beijing
2009 — Palais de Tokyo — Paris
2009 — Parcours St Germain — Paris
2009 — KSB — Markus Winter, Berlin
2008 — Two of you, among you, with you, TAG / My Life In Art, London
2008 — Tatton Park Biennial, Cheshire
2007 — Deptford X — London
2007 — Jeux de Mains, jeux de vilains, Good Friday, Brussels
2006 — Art Crazy Nation — Kulczyk Foundation, Poznan
2006 — post_modellismus — Kunsthalle, Bergen
2005 — post_modellismus — Krinzinger, Vienna
2005 — Art Craziest Nation — Walker Gallery, Liverpool
2004 — Lick Your Selves — Bloc, Sheffield
2004 — Crazius Craftus Creativus — The Reliance Gallery, London
2004 — Art Crazy Nation — Comme Ca, New York
2003 — Art Crazy Nation — Catto Contemporary, London
2001 — This Is Modern Art — Cornerhouse, Manchester
1999 — Gavin Turk’s Rubbish — Decima, London
Grants
2021 — Arts Council England DYCP
Collections
Walker Gallery, Liverpool
Space Collection, Liege
Sandra Hegedüs Mulliez, Paris
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