ART

Here resides a chronological selection from the artworks produced by John Yeadon.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s he produced drawings and paintings of disturbing and sexually charged landscape forms, which in turn led to a fascination with Freudian theories, Rorschach images and on towards Jungian archetypal forms and mandala symbolism.

In the ’70s he produced a number of political (mainly anti-fascist) banners which brought a new socially committed dimension to his practice and enabled him to further develop themes of sexuality, social commentary and satire.

It was during the 1980s that Yeadon developed an interest in the potential of the grotesque to unify the diverse sexual, political and satirical dimensions of his work. Reading Rabelais and Swift, he embarked upon a long series of paintings, drawings and prints which were both humorous and disturbing. His output since that time has continued to be probing and critical, employing wit and irony to expose foolishness and hypocrisy. Yet his aims as an artist have always been deeply sympathetic and intensely human.

From the late-90s, Yeadon’s imagery has been dominated by use of computer-based processes, through which he has produced many beautiful and erotic digital photomontages. While this imagery has never been gratuitous or titillating, it serves the same purpose as virtually all of his previous work: it provokes and disturbs, but forces audiences to question their preconceptions and prejudices. It is through such provocation that Yeadon’s images serve both psychological and political purposes: not only do they challenge and educate, they invite us to question and re-evaluate those cultural and political assumptions which can so often cause us to lapse into complacency and conformity.

Over the last decade he has begun painting once more, looking at the historic popular culture and national identity. He began this new series of work by looking back at his Mother’s ventriloquist dummy, considering ‘authorship’ and ‘artifice’. Inevitably there is some sense of autobiography here. Works which Yeadon jokingly calls ‘autoplagiarism’.

CHRONOLOGY & LIST OF GALLERIES OF WORK:

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1961/2022 SELF PORTRAITS

2015/18 SELLAFIELD

57/2011 CRUSADES 1957-2011

2012/22 ENGLANDIA

2012/15 MORE ENGLANDIA

2014/16 MORE DUMMIES

2011/12 FEARFUL SYMMETRY

2006/08 VANITAS

2005/06 PABULUM

1999/05 CONGERIES CARNIS

2004/05 BEYOND TASTE

2004/05 MOUSE LIPS PROJECT

1999/04 ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY

1999/02 VIOL BODIES

1999 FURNITURE

1996/97 A TRAGICAL COMEDY

1990/93 BACK SIDES

1986/91 THE TRAVAILS OF BLIND BIFF

1983/86 THE SHINING CITY ON THE HILL

1983 HAPPY FAMILIES

1981/84 DIRTY TRICKS

1976/88 BANNERS

1961/81 EARLY WORK