John Stezaker and Matthew Higgs
In 1996 I organized an exhibition of recent work by John Stezaker at Cubitt. (At the time I was a member of Cubitt’s gallery committee, an imperfect democracy where no one had a designated role or title.) Entitled ‘Garden’ the exhibition had evolved out of a conversation between John, myself, Peter Doig (who as an undergraduate at Saint Martin’s college in the early 1980s had been taught by John), and Martin McGeown and Andrew Wheatley of London’s Cabinet gallery (which at the time was located in a Brixton apartment building.) We all felt, no doubt in different ways, that John’s work – both past and present – deserved to be seen by a wider audience, and that his persistent influence both as an artist and a teacher should be more broadly acknowledged. (In the early-to-mid 1990s, with the notable exception of the support he received from the artist’s collective BANK, John’s work had to all intents and purposes disappeared from view.) At one stage we had discussed organizing two exhibitions: one of John’s collage works from the 1970s and 1980s, and another that would focus on his recent works. As it turned out only the latter exhibition happened. ‘Garden’ privileged John’s large-scale works that employed imagery derived from artist’s anatomical manuals and his Rorschach-like images of tree trunks. I remember that the opening reception brought together John’s peers and a new generation of artists for whom Stezaker’s work would become increasingly important. Nearly fifteen years later John’s work is now probably better known than at any point in his near-forty year career. It is rewarding to have witnessed this process, and also to be able to acknowledge Cubitt’s small role within this ongoing and unfolding dialogue.
John Stezaker
Selected Exhibitions
2016 Walkers: Hollywood Afterlives in Art and Artifact, Museum of the Moving Image, New York (solo)
2015 John Stezaker: Touch, Independent Régence, Brussels (solo)
2015 John Stezaker: Collages, Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam, Netherlands (solo)
2015 The Projectionist, The Approach, London, United Kingdom (solo)
2014 New Silkscreens, Petzel Gallery, New York, New York (solo)
2013 One on One, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel (solo)
2013 Blind, The Approach, London, United Kingdom (solo)
2013 Crossing Over, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany (solo)
2012 John Stezaker, Galerie Gisela Capitain, Cologne, Germany (solo)
2011 John Stezaker, The Whitechapel Gallery, London, United Kingdom; traveled to Mudam, Luxembourg (2011); Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St Louis, Missouri (2012) (solo)
2011 John Stezaker, Petzel Gallery, New York, New York [cat.] 2010 Silkscreens, Capitain Petzel, Berlin, Germany (solo)
2011 Tabula Rasa, The Approach, London, United Kingdom (solo)
2008 Fumetti, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle Kunst Bremen, Bremen, Germany (solo)
2007 John Stezaker, Karsten Schubert in collaboration with The Approach, London, United Kingdom (solo)
2007 John Stezaker, The Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida (solo)
2007 John Stezaker, Open Eye Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom (solo)
2007 John Stezaker, Project Room, Yvon Lambert, Paris, France (solo)
2006 Bridges and other Metaphors, Norwich Gallery, Norwich, UK (solo)
2006 John Stezaker, White Columns, New York (solo)
2004 The Third Person Archive and Other Works, The Approach, London, United Kingdom (solo)
2001 The Holy Land Series, Wigmore Fine Art, London, United Kingdom (solo)
1996 Garden, Cubitt Gallery, London, United Kingdom (solo)
1995 ZOMBIE GOLF, BANKSPACE, London, 1995
1984 Lisson Gallery, London, United Kingdom (solo)
1979 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, United Kingdom (solo)
1979 John Stezaker: The World Made Flesh, The New ‘57 Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland (solo)
1978 Fragments, Photographer’s Gallery, London, United Kingdom (solo)
1978 Collages 1977-1978, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK (solo)
1978 Southampton City Museum, Southampton, UK (solo)
1974 Galleria Lia Rumma, Naples, Italy (solo)
1973 The Museum of Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom (solo)
Selected Collections
British Council Collection
Ellipse Foundation
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Modern Art
Tate Collection
Education
1973 B.F.A., Slade School of Art, London