JOHN CAKE

JOHN CAKE​

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Neurowonky, Northern scum, abstract, absurdism.

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I’m a child of 70s/80s North West England, where punk was a spirit, not a pose.
Where Hip Hop, House and Techno resonated and thrived.
Where life was and still is brutally irrational.
(Scally, DIY, remix, laugh.)

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My works are a way of mapping and processing the symptoms of living my life artistically and autistically.
I revel in the perverse pleasure that I find meaning in society’s debris, errors and redundancies.
I flip between digital and analogue techniques to abstract, clip, collide and layer these elements.
They coalesce into a wild-style-mind-map, a calligraphic vibrant web of visual fragments that resist and relinquish authority.

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A model cannon protrudes from a pile of rubble.
Soviet Pooh dawdles beneath an Ultra’s burning scooter.
Potato-snack-based omens lie ensnared as kit-designs are ruined by sponsors.

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I largely make this art for myself, to create an illogical nonsense, to refocus my intentions. But for you, I want my work to induce a state where your certainties are thrown off-kilter yet inspire optimism and joy.

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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

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2009 — Auckland Festival — Seed Gallery, Auckland

2009 — The English Lounge — Tang Contemporary, Beijing

2009 — Palais de Tokyo — Paris

2011 — We Were Young and Immortal — Good Friday, Brussels

2011 — Space Collection — Atelierhaus, Aachen

2015 — Les moissons de la cité — Space Collection, Liege

2018 — Winter Exhibition — Comme Ca Art, Manchester

2019 — Paintings — Comme Ca Art, Manchester

2020 — Mcr Open — Home, Manchester

2022 — Bankley Open 2022 — Bankley Gallery, Manchester

2022 — TBH Cats (late + current) — The Edge, Manchester

2022 — round the corner, down the stairs — PaintingWriting, Manchester

2023 — Dead cats and a kinky bus pass — Home Mcr, Manchester

2024 — John Cake & Alan Yaffe, Comme Ca Art, Manchester
 

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PLEASE CONTACT COMME CA ART DEALERS FOR ANY ENQUIRIES. 

 

CLAIRE TURNER | claire@commecaart.com | T: +44 (0) 161 273 5495