John Court

/ Näyttelyt /

John Court

25.5.–19.6.2022

Iso-Britanniassa syntynyt John Court tekee suurikokoisia piirroksia, performansseja ja videoteoksia. Courtin teoksissa luova prosessi on olennaista, ja siksi kaikki hänen taiteensa – taiteenalasta riippumatta – on viimekädessä performatiivista. Hänen teoksiaan on nähty eri puolilla Pohjoismaita ja Eurooppaa, sekä Liverpoolin ja Venetsian biennaaleissa.


John Court (b. 1969, Bromley, Kent, UK; lives Tornio, Finland) produces art that springs from personal experience, focuses on the body and, most importantly, hinges on process and the passage of time. Court graduated from London’s Camberwell School of Art (1994) and obtained a 1st Class Honours Degree in Sculpture from the Norwich School of Art and Design (1997) and, although the general character of his projects has evolved over time, the artistic footing he developed while a sculpture student continues to be a mainstay of his approach. Colour, for example, never requites consideration, since it is predetermined by the materials he uses. And while he continues to produce sculptural objects and draw, these processes are frequently adapted to respond to specific contexts and/or dovetailed into time-based works. The resulting transformations greatly expand the scope of these artistic approaches and generate outcomes that are unexpected and intrigue. Moreover, Court’s interest in process is so far-reaching that he does not differentiate between work produced in the studio or live before audiences. He considers all to be performative.

A particularly compelling feature of Court’s practice is how he explores his relationship to language activities. Although he grasps artistic concepts and can analyse visual information, his reading and writing abilities are impeded by a severe form of dyslexia. Thus, as a young adult determined to go to art school, he worked diligently to improve his literacy skills. He then, as an art school student, began to draw from his previous school experiences and represent aspects of them in his work. As a focus, this theme became comprehensive and runs through much of the artist’s work.

All of Court’s works embody the interdependent processes of writing and drawing, which are fundamental to his practice, and unite line, movement, time, and space. As such, they manifest inextricable and dynamic totalities that not only reflect his reality, but also provide viewers with experiences that reshape their views on the acquisition and use of language.

 

Näyttelyä on tukenut /The exhibition has been supported by