John Reynolds
Funky Capitalism, 2014
Reflective signs, vinyl and steel
1500 x 500 mm
Price on request
Global Weirding, 2014
Reflective signs, vinyl and steel
1500 x 500 mm
Price on request
I'm just saying, 2014
Reflective signs, vinyl and steel
1500 x 500 mm
Price on request
Catastrophe Theory, 2014
Reflective signs, vinyl and steel
1500 x 500 mm
Price on request
Garden of Earthly Delights, 2014
Reflective signs, vinyl and steel
350mm X 500 mm
Price on request
John Reynolds’ Road Signs might cause you to do a double take. Fluorescent and incongruous to the landscape, they appear almost functional: will we heed their warnings? It’s only when we read their puzzling text and see their placement along the sculpture trail that we can understand them as representing Reynolds’ art practice succinctly. The enduring qualities of his work that continue to draw viewers into his sphere - wit, and restless energy with a conceptual streak and agitation of culture - also confound us. Road signs are easily read by everyone, yet these are disconcerting with their off-centre warnings: Yeah Nah Yeah, Funky Capitalism, Global Weirding, Utopia and Garden of Earthy Delights.
There is no sense to be made in these works. Reynolds seems to enjoy disrupting our search for coherency. Dead-pan humour, juxtapositions and a liking of ‘artless’ objects recalls early modernist explorations into the reverence of ‘high’ art and the subversion of this with found objects. Certainly, Reynolds’ Road Signs are placed in the midst of a dynamic sculpture trail that often undermine the materiality and mundanity of his works with their scale and price-tag. His interest in this juxtaposition of ‘art’ and the ‘familiar’, the hybridity of material or idea (or both), acts as a surprise to us - it poses a problem, a complication, to how we usually view art. Reynolds says of this effect: “It’s a mixture of collude and collide.”
More from this artist
Artist Bio
John Reynolds lives and works in Auckland, New Zealand. Over the past three decades he has established a reputation as a painter who employs aspects of drawing (sketches, plans, charts, doodles) and different types of representation (expressive marks, symbols, patterns, writing) for poetic effect. Not content to be pigeonholed as a painter, he also incorporates sculpture, installation and site-specific outdoor works into his practice. These include Snow Tussock and Golden Spaniard, commissioned by Oceana Gold for a heritage and art park in East Otago and BIG WAVE TERRITORY, commissioned by New Plymouth's Art in Public Places Trust for the Coastal Walkway,
Reynolds is also recognised for the diversity of his practice and ability to work in a variety of scenes such as - architecture (with Nicolas Stevens), fashion (with Workshop, World and Karen Walker), music and publishing (record, book and magazine covers) and television (Questions for Mr Reynolds documentary with Shirley Horrocks and Works End with Chris Knox for Art Land).
Solo shows include: FrenchBayDarkly... Starkwhite (2017); WalkWithMe... Starkwhite (2016); Manifesto, Tauranga Art Gallery (2015); Epistamadolgies, Auckland Art Gallery (2015); Blutopia, Starkwhite (2014); Vagabondage, Starkwhite (2013); The Art of War, ART HK, the international art fair of Hong Kong (2010); NOMADOLOGY [loitering with intent], Govett-Brewster Art Gallery (2010); 1001 Nights, The Amory Show, New York (2010); Table of Dynasties, ART HK, the international art fair of Hong Kong (2009); John Reynolds: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, a collaboration between the artist and actor/director Geraldine Brophy, Christchurch Art Gallery (2008); Speaking Truth to Power, Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland University (2007); HEVN: NOT TO SCALE, curated by Sophie McIntyre, Adam Gallery Victoria University, Wellington (2002): and From K Road to Kingdom Come, curated by Gregory Burke and Robert Leonard, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (2001).
Representation in recent group exhibitions include: ANZAC Centenary Print Portfolio, Parliament House, Canberra (2016); Julian Dashper & Friends, curated by Robert Leonard, City Gallery Wellington (2015); Lines across the ocean, MOCA, Santiago (2013); Kermadec, Maritime Museum, Auckland & City Gallery Wellington (2012); One Hand Read, presented in a three-person show at Art Los Angeles Contemporary, the international art fair of Los Angeles (2010); Dorothy Napangardi / John Reynolds, curated by Robert Leonard, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane (2009); Walters Prize Exhibition, Auckland Art Gallery (2008); Zones of Conflict, 15th Biennale of Sydney (his work Cloud was commissioned for the entrance hall of the Art Gallery of New South Wales), curated by Charles Merewether (2006); 54321: Auckland Artists Projects, curated by Ngahiraka Mason, Auckland Art Gallery (2006); and Nine Lives: The Chartwell Collection, curated by Robert Leonard, Auckland Art Gallery (2003).
Reynolds is the recipient of a Laureate Award from the Arts Foundation of New Zealand and a member of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery Foundation. He has also been a finalist in New Zealand's prestigious Walters Prize Award and exhibition at the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in 2002 and 2008.
