John Patrick McKenzie


John Patrick McKenzie 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.

Works

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

George Lucas is full of Streets of San Francisco and Oceania...

Exhibition Highlights

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, Worcester, 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
2010

Where Are We?, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

Paper!Awesome!, Baer Ridgeway, San Francisco, California
2009

Words, Verses and Garabatos, San Francisco City College, San Francisco, California

Repetition, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

TV and Me, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2008

Art Repurposed, Thoreau Center, San Francisco, California

Tasty, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

one of these does not belong, Adobe Books, San Francisco, California

Quarter Century, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

Without Borders: Outsider Art in An Antipodean Context, Monash University, Australia
2007

GROUNDED?, Intersection for the Arts and Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California

Shadowshine, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

Seeing Memory, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2006

The Beat Goes on, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California

CA Calligraphy Summit, SFSU Art Gallery, San Francisco, California

Drawing the Line, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2004

Radiant Spaces: Private Domain, Track 16, Los Angeles, California

Outside Insight, The Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California

Contextual, Creativity Explored, San Francisco, California
2000

Created in California, Lorri Berenberg Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts
1998

Whipper Snapper Nerd, Bronwyn Keenan Gallery, New York, New York

Whipper Snapper Nerd, Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1997

Whipper Snapper Nerd, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California

Reception

McKenzie is considered to be a "rising star" in the world of outsider art. He work has been shown around the world, both in group exhibitions of outsider works and is solo shows.

Collaborators and Collectors

Tracy Chapman
Michael Stripe
UC Berkeley Art Museum