John Patrick McKenzie

John Patrick McKenzie (born 1962, Quezon City, Philippines) is an autistic San Francisco-based artist, known for creating works of visual poetry. His works have been exhibited internationally, including in New York, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

McKenzie’s process is based on a complex and mysterious repetitive sequencing. He methodically adds layers of nuance to each chosen subject, which is most often people and objects from pop culture, current events, and the artist’s immediate surroundings. Swirling, multi-angled, and disorienting, the placement of McKenzie’s language comments on the contradictory, sometimes overwhelming, nature of media attention and celebrity.

McKenzie is tirelessly engaged with sorting through the cyclical likes and dislikes of Hollywood, fashion, marketing, and the geo-political. And, like his artwork, the true nature of our information saturated world can be difficult to decode; but, ultimately, what McKenzie’s work reveals is that we are all people, we are all aging, we all like some things and dislike others, and we all need to communicate.

McKenzie's works typically are made up of variations on a theme sentence scrawled in black ink on white paper, though he sometimes uses color or writes on other materials. He writes in a stereotyped font in which all letters are filled in. Pop cultural or political icons figure prominently his works, which always feature a repeating prompt, for example:

George Lucas is full of Luke Skywalker They are full of holy Europe

George Lucas is full of Burger King They are full of holy Asia
George Lucas is full of stars They are full of holy Australia
George Lucas if full of movies

Solo Exhibitions

2011
John Patrick McKenzie Is Culture Humbug Sexy, Brett McDowell Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
They Are Full of Holy Nonsense, Creativity Explored, San Francisco

2009
John Patrick McKenzie's Famous Artworks, Brett McDowell Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand

2008
Most Culture Humbug Sexy People Like John Patrick McKenzie, Monster Children, Sydney, Australia

Selected Exhibitions

2014
Way Out West, The Art City Project, San Francisco, CA

2012
Create, Cantor Art Gallery, Worchester, Massachusetts
Out of Order, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
ArtPadSF, Phoenix Hotel, San Francisco, California
FAX, San Francisco Arts Commission, San Francisco, California
Parallel Visions, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

2011
After Shelley Duvall ’72, Maccarone, New York, New York
Create, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California
4 Real 4 Faux Animating the Vernacular, Truman University, Kirksville, Missouri
Black and White and Read All Over, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

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