Since the mid-1960s, John Blake’s mixed-media work has encompassed site-related installations, photo-constructions, drawing and sculpture, photo-projections and films, as well as, more recently, permanently sited (public) works such as DE HALS ‘kunsthalte’/RET, and Nape (installed in Rotterdam’s ‘museum quarter’ in 2000).

He collaborated with the author and cultural anthropologist Peter Mason (Deconstructing America: Representations of the Other (RKP, 1990); Infelicities: Representations of the Exotic (JHU, 1998), etc.) on a publication titled S-P-I-N-E, representing their work’s production as individual paths containing parallel directions, published in Santiago de Chile. Other publications include: Ich Oczy; 600 Eyes for Krzysztofory – Ihre Augen – Their Eyes, John Blake (1987); RIVER, John Blake/Almere (1991); GUARD, Camiel van Winkel (1991); Wtedy I Teraz: Works in Poland 1980–94, Anna Maria Potocka (1996); BUNKER, Peter Mason (1996); and DEbHALS, Lieven de Cauter (2000).

John Blake (1945–2017) was born in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He studied painting at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, and at Yale University (Norfolk Program), receiving his BFA in 1967. He continued his studies in London at the Royal College of Art (MA/RCA,1969), after which he lived and worked primarily in Europe, first in London, then from the mid-1980s in Amsterdam and Woerden in the Netherlands.

His work has been represented in various group shows internationally. Solo exhibitions and projects have included: ‘Visibly Evident’, Spinach, London (2011); ‘Visibly Evident’, OPEN Ealing Arts Centre, London (2011); ‘Visibly Evident’, conceived and curated by David Ross, Central Space Gallery, London (2010); Kunstbunker Tumulka, Munich (1996); Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw PL (1993); de Appel, Amsterdam NL (1986); de Vleeshal, Middelburg NL (1983); Matt's Gallery, London (1980, 1988); ICA (Institute for Contemporary Arts), London (1980); PS1 (Institute for Art & Urban Resources) NYC (1977); Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (1973); Victoria & Albert Museum, London (1971).

www.studiojohnblake.com