John Isaacs British, b. 1968

Overview

John Isaacs (b. 1968 Lancaster, UK) lives and works in Berlin, Germany.

 

John Isaacs started his career in the 1990s on the buzzing London art scene: he first generated attention during the Young British Artists exhibitions at the Saatchi and Hayward galleries. Deeply influenced by science and poetry, his work takes roots from popular imagery, drawing from ancient to modern references.

 

John Isaacs’ work has been subject of numerous exhibitions in international museums, institutions and galleries, including Young British Artists VI, The Saatchi Gallery, London (1996); Spectacular Bodies, The Hayward Gallery, London (2000); Disasters of War, KW, Berlin (2000); Minimal Maximal, Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto (2001); Mike Kelly’s The Uncanny, Tate Liverpool (2004); In the darkest hour there may be light, The Serpentine Gallery, London (2007); Rockers Island: The Olbricht Collection, Museum Folkwang Essen (2007); Paul Thek in the context of contemporary art, ZKM, Karlsruhe (2007); Dream Time, Les Abattoirs, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Toulouse (2009); Freedom not Genius, Works from Damien Hirst’s Murderme Collection, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin (2012); Alice im Wunderland der Kunst, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2012); Highlights from the Collection II, The Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas (2012); The name is Burroughs − Expanded Media, Sammlung Falckenberg, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2013); A Brief History of the Future, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Brussels (2015); About Trees, Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern (2015); Fleischeslust, Museum Villa Rot, Burgrieden-Rot, Germany (2015); The Thousand-Thigh Hospice: experiments in healing, CAN, Centre d’Art de Neuchatel, Switzerland (2015); Absurd builders, handymen utopia, Abbaye Saint André, Centre d’art contemporain, Meymac, France (2015); The inner skin – Art and Shame, Museum für Kunst, Architektur, Design, Marta Herford, Germany, John Isaacs, Archipelago, Galleria Poggiali, Milan, Italy, (2018); Eat me, Kunstmuseum Trapholt, Kolding, Denmark (2018); among others.

 

His works have been collected by some of the most cutting-edge and renowned private collections worldwide (British Arts Council, Black Flag, Olbricht, Murder Me / Damien Hirst, De Galbert, Speyer, Deitch Projects, Berri, Saatchi, Kim/Arario, and artists such as Madonna, Damien Hirst and Cindy Sherman, etc…).

Works
Exhibitions