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John Isaacs

Lancaster, United Kingdom. 1968
Today I started loving you again.

curated by Philipp Bollmann, Galerie Michael Haas & Kunstlager Haas, Berlin, Germany, 2021.

Today I started loving you again.

curated by Philipp Bollmann, Galerie Michael Haas & Kunstlager Haas, Berlin, Germany, 2021.

Today I started loving you again.

curated by Philipp Bollmann, Galerie Michael Haas & Kunstlager Haas, Berlin, Germany, 2021.

Dust

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2019.

Dust

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2019.

Dust

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2019.

The 13 Corners

Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, 2016.

The 13 Corners

Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, 2016.

The 13 Corners

Travesía Cuatro, Guadalajara, 2016.

Are we not the same you and I

Bronze and 24 carat gold leaf. 113 x 9 x 9 cm. 2016.

There is no story that is not true

Patinated bronze. 152 x 51 x 21 cm. 2016.

Inconsolus, Votes for Children

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2015.

Inconsolus, Votes for Children

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2015.

Inconsolus, Votes for Children

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2015.

The 13 corners

Galvanised steel, mild steel and newpaper. 200 x 65 x 95 cm. 2015.

Votes for children

Glazed ceramic, steel. 96 x 65 x 65 cm. 2015.

Inconsolus

Glass tube and transformers. Variable dimensions. 2015.

The long way home

Framed archival c-type print. 141 x 101 x 5 cm. 2015.

Are we not the same you and I

Bronze and gold leaf. 310 x 4 x 4 cm. 2015.

If I said you could fall in love would you believe me

Glazed ceramic, steel and copper. 90 x 70 x 80 cm. 2015.

On the as yet untitled road to peace

White flag with crystals, chain and gold plated carrot. 160 x 110 x 5 cm. 2015.

The cyclical development of stasis

Terracotta, plaster, steel, glass, wood. 160 x 56 x 76 cm. 2015.

Untitled

Framed c-type print. 124 x 78 x 4 cm. 2015.

The Architecture of Empathy

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2013.

The Architecture of Empathy

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2013.

The Architecture of Empathy

Travesía Cuatro, Madrid, 2013.

Blood and tears

Neon glass fittings, transformer. 180 x 180 x 8 cm. 2013.

Ngoromgoro

Glazed ceramic. 72 x 46 x 37 cm. 2013.

Cast from light and dark your shadow is no different from mine

Patined bronze, steel. Variable dimensions. 2013.

A Perfect Soul - The Architecture of Empathy

Carved from statuario marble. 200 x 180 x 110 cm. 2013.

The forgotten temple

Wax, oil paint, plaster, steel, glazed ceramic, 24 carrat gold leaf. 186 x 67 x 114 cm. 2013.

The long way home

Patinated bronze and steel. 85 x 69 x 75 cm. 2012.

What lies behind what lies before

Painted bronze, steel, car paint. 217 x 52 x 52 cm. 2012.

Everything is not enough

Car door and neon. 275 x 170 cm. 2012.

Things that can be are that which we know

Glazed ceramic, steel. 75 x 10 x 120 cm. 2011.

Walking in the poverty of our history in the making

Taxidermized vulture, plaster, garbage bag and his content, steel structure. 230 x 120 x 120 cm. 2011.

There is no story that is not true

Plaster, resin, Damien Hirst’s trousers. Variable dimensions. 2010.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow

Digital print. 48.5 x 38.5 cm. 2010.

Let the golden age begin

Glass, neon light, electric transformers, flashing units. 180 x 170 x 12 cm. 2010.

Everything given nothing love

Glazed ceramic. 80 x 80 x 20 cm. 2010.

Everyone is making do with what they have but looking at you makes me want less

Glazed ceramic, steel. 75 x 10 x 120 cm. 2010.

The frightened gods of fortune

Gold plate, wax, plaster, steel, wood, oil paint, latex. 120 x 80 x 105 cm. 2010.

To do to you again what was done before

Silicone reproduction elephant foot, car body filler, acrylic paint, vinyl. 104 x 42 x 42 cm. 2008.

Where is my world

Glazed ceramic, human hair, steel, electrical appliance. 50 x 50 x 180 cm. 2008.

Hanging on the stars

Seven 0.05 ct. diamonds and found lithoprint. 26.5 x 31 cm. 2008.

What is it that there is something and nothing

Archival inkjet photographic print. 110 x 141 cm. 2006.

The work of John Isaacs work produces altered modes of historic perception. Approaching materials from a temporary understanding, the artist transforms oldness and newness into ambiguous categories. Simultaneously, Isaacs reverts the symbology used by religious institutions or popular culture to establish parameters of value and meaning. By liberating these signs from their regular references they can be arranged as a common ground where a truly human aspect manifests itself, with the disposal and tendency towards transcendence.

The initial estrangement produced by Isaacs’ works concerns a shared essence between humans that the artist decides to sublimate but also to parody, using a great diversity of mediums and materials. John Isaacs employs language and referentiality for an adverse purpose, instead of reaffirming meaning, he cancels it in order to reveal the emotional dimension of things and their relation to the human body.

His recent solo exhibitions include: A Gateway to Possible Worlds, Centre Pompidou, Mertz, France (2022); Energetic Gestures, Kunstsaele, Berlin, Germany (2022); Le Moyen Âge Réinventé, Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille, France (2022); Today I started loving you again, Galerie Michael Haas & Kunstlager Haas, Berlin, Germany (2021); Dust, Traveisa Cuatro, Madrid, España (2019); Archipelago, Galleria Poggiali, Milan, Italy (2018); Sublimi Anatomie, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy (2020); The 13 Corner ,Travesía Cuatro Guadalajara, México (2016) ;INCONSOLUS votes for children, Travesía Cuatro, Madrid (2015); Forgiveness and Reconciliation, Musei Vaticani, Rome (2015);Absurd builders, handymen utopia, Abbaye Saint André, Centre d’art contemporain, Meymac, France (2015);The Thousand-Thigh Hospice: experiments in healing, CAN, Centre d’Art de Neuchatel, Switzerland (2015);Fleischeslust, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, Germany (2015); About Trees, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2015); A Brief History of the Future,Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (2015); ); The name is Burroughs − Expanded Media, Sammlung Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2013).

Recent Group Exhibitions: One day It will Be Like When We ́ve Already Lived, Galerie Steinek, Vienna, Austria (2021),Figuratively Speaking, O54 Exhibition Series at Am Tacheles, Berlin, Germany (2021); Portal #2Luigi Solito Galleria Contemporanea, Naples, Italy (2021);Please Leave This World, Maelle Galerie, Paris, France (2020).

His work has also been featured in numerous international museums, institutions and galleries, such as: The Saatchi Gallery, London; The Hayward Gallery, London; Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; MARCO, Vigo; Tate Liverpool, Museum der Moderne, Salzburg and others.

John Isaacs lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

cast from light and dark your shadow is no different from mine

2016. Polychrome on wood, gesso. 27 x 15 x 23 cm

Let the golden age begin

2016. Steel, wood, 24 carat gold leaf. 210 x 180 x 180 cm

Cast from light and dark your shadow is no different from mine

Patined bronze, steel. Variable dimensions. 2013.

There is no story that is not true

Patinated bronze. 152 x 51 x 21 cm. 2016.

Detail view
You can give everything you have to others, and lose nothing of yourself

2010. Glazed ceramic. 112 x 70 x 50 cm

If I said you could fall in love would you believe me

Glazed ceramic, steel and copper. 90 x 70 x 80 cm. 2015.

Things that can be are that which we know

Glazed ceramic, steel. 75 x 10 x 120 cm. 2011.

Married to the same idiocy

2013. Ceramic, steel, shellack. 65 x 89 x 7 cm

The long way home

Framed archival c-type print. 141 x 101 x 5 cm. 2015.

Everything is not enough

Car door and neon. 275 x 170 cm. 2012.

Votes for children

Glazed ceramic, steel. 96 x 65 x 65 cm. 2015.

Ngoromgoro

Glazed ceramic. 72 x 46 x 37 cm. 2013.

There is no story that is not true

Plaster, resin, Damien Hirst’s trousers. Variable dimensions. 2010.

Are we not the same you and I

Bronze and gold leaf. 310 x 4 x 4 cm. 2015.

What lies before what lies behind

2012. Patined bronze, steel, car paint. 170 x 51 x 51 cm

What lies before what lies behind (Detail)

2012. Patined bronze, steel, car paint. 170 x 51 x 51 cm