About
Once upon a time we shared the collective dream that technology would make the world a better place,
As a child of the 1980’s Synth-pop provided the soundtrack while the excitement and optimism of Tomorrow’s World gripped me (and never really let go). I genuinely believed that we would all have nuclear powered flying cars, food would come in pill form. Clothes would mostly be shiny silver and every home would make its own hydrogen.
But it wasn’t all daydreaming of a new romantic themed technological utopia. We were still deep in the Cold War and the shadow of The Bomb. With the benefit of hindsight I had an unhealthy obsession with nuclear war. Looking back it might as well have been another planet.
Somewhere between then and now things went wrong. Although we managed to avoid nuclear holocaust and pill food, we haven’t got nuclear powered flying cars, instead we’ve got enshittification, surveillance capitalism, global warming, and the avarice and dead-eyed greed of tech-bros.
I’m interested in nostalgia for the future we were promised but which never arrived. My sculptures are ambiguous, playing with form and scale, using found and recycled objects together with inappropriately low-tech materials like wood and paint to create objects that mix furniture, architectural models, and cargo cult facsimiles of robots and machines.
Text by Nick Kaplony (Artquest) to accompany the exhibition 'Stream'
When first encountering the work of John Elliott one is struck simultaneously and strongly by qualities of colour and structure. Working largely in the realm of sculpture, even forays into other mediums carry a strong sense of preoccupation with these qualities. Be it in combining disparate elements of found materials and detritus in ‘Baba Yagga’s House’ a bizarre hybrid sculpture, or translating email messages into a string of virtual DNA online, his work seems to look at how ‘modules’ connect and how one thing follows another.
The colours vivid and strong, the strange objects Elliott creates bring to mind the building bricks a child uses to first learn about how shapes fit together and how different parts of the world relate. An ornate patterned ceramic globe is slotted into a brightly striped block. Here two opposites (both in pattern and structure) have been combined to hugely satisfying effect. They fit. The analogy of childlike enquiry can be continued in reference to the sense of play that is implicit in Elliott’s practice: There is in an experiment taking place in his work, where a bizarre hypothesis is being tested or a slightly absurd logic is being followed. Indeed Elliott frequently references science and genetics in his titles indicating a link with a scientific interest of fundamentals. The work ‘Sonic Hedgehog mRNA’ is a good example of this fusing of science and child’s-play in which a ball of down is propped up on glossily painted ‘legs’ to resemble the structure of a chemical molecule.
Elliott continues to build a practice with an ever more eloquent visual vocabulary exploring the world of ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ with an undiminished and infectious enthusiasm. His work charms and engages, be it with seductive use of colour and surface, or with its idiosyncratic wit. Watch this space!
- Dialogues1st October - 1st November 2025The Plough Arts Centre, Great Torrington, Devon
- Where are we now?6th September - 25th October 2025Thelma Hulbert Gallery, Honiton, Devon
- Studio KIND. Summer Open 20259th July - 9th August 2025Studio KIND. at The Corn Store, Barnstaple Pannier Market, Barnstaple, Devon
- Words per minute26th September - 5th October 2024Middlesbrough Art Week 2024
- EVOLVER PRIZE6th July - 10th August 2024Ace Arts, Somerton, SomersetExhibition and inclusion in Evolver Magazine
- Solastalgia1st - 14th July 2024Truro Cathederal, Truro, Cornwall
- HinterlandMay 2024Ovoid Studio, Ovingdean, Brighton
- Delamore Arts1st - 31st May 2024Delamore Estate, Devon
- Postcards10th – 20th January 2024Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield
- Solastalgia ISSUE 2 'TERRAFURIE'January 2024https://solastalgia.square.site/
- Lingering Memories (MonART II)17th November - 6th December 2023Fox Yard Studio, Stowmarket, Suffolk
- English Riviera Winter Open5th November - 21st January 2024Artizan Gallery, Torquay, Devon'Sonnet 106' received an honourable mention from the judges
- Artbloc Weekender13th - 15th October 2023Braunton, Devon
- Studio KIND summer openJuly 22nd - 12th August 2023Studio KIND, Braunton, Devon
- Lets Create! JourneySummer 2023Devon Artist Network (online)
- Ashburner Prize Sculpture Exhibition1st June - 31st October 2023Stone Lane Gardens, Chagford, Devon'Picnic' was shortlisted and received a commendation from the judges
- My Body In My HandsMay 2023SVA John St Gallery, Stroud, Gloucestershire
- FRONTPAGE / BACKPAGE / CENTREFOLDNovember - December 2022Publication distributed at venues of British Art Show 9 in Plymouth
- South West Printmaking Open 2022October 2022Studio KIND, Braunton, Devon
- PATHSeptember 2022Dovetail Magazine / The Niche
- Artists At The White RoomSeptember 2022The White Room, Crediton, Devon
- Ashburner Prize Sculpture Exhibition1st July - 31st October 2022Stone Lane Gardens, Chagford, Devon'State Machine' received a commendation from the judges
- 30 works / 30 daysApril 202212ø Collective and Artquest (online)
- The Art of Planetary ScienceSeptember 2021University of Arizona (online)
- Gallery 333Summer 2021Exeter Phoenix, Exeter, Devon
- Artist Talk MagazineApril 2021Featuring the We Are Not Just Numbers project
- We are not just numbers2020 - 2021Project to record one year of Covid-19 deaths through drawing.
- Time Machine2020
- Here be dragons2011-2019Anonymous sculptures, interventions, and digital projects
- Summer exhibitionSeptember 2010Red Earth Gallery, Bickleigh, Devon
- The Big Issue (Devon)September 2007
- StreamSeptember 2007Tiverton Museum, Tiverton, DevonSolo site specific installation.
- Arts Council England - Grants for the Arts Award for StreamAugust 2007
- Devon Artists Network BursaryJuly 2007
- Network magazineJanuary 2007
- Stories From the Tower2006 - 2007With Slowfall Projects, project to record the stories of Hackney residents funded by Hackney Council.
- The Sculpture Trail at Hebden Bridge (Book documenting the sculpture trail)Autumn 2006
- Marilyn as a PebbleSeptember 2005Nr Tavistock, DevonSite specific Installation.
- IntercedeSummer 2005With Slowfall Projects.
- Hebden Bridge Sculpture TrailSummer 2005Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire
- Hebden Bridge Sculpture TrailSummer 2004Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge, Yorkshire
- Blood Hyphen WorkshopsSummer 2004Woodbridge Chapel, LondonSlowfall Projects ran a series of workshops supporting the Barbican Art Gallery’s Helen Chadwick retrospective.
- Interview Resonance FM - RadioAugust 2003Interview with Slowfall Projects discussing the exhibition Ringing.
- RingingAugust 2003St Augustine’s Tower, Hackney, LondonExhibition with Slowfall Project
- Chocolate Factory Open StudiosNovember 2001Chocolate Factory, Woodgreen, London
- The Visual HaikuJune 2001Peterborough Art House, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
- Chocolate Factory Open StudiosNovember 2000Chocolate Factory, Woodgreen, London
- The Eden ProjectAugust 2000Witzenhausen, Germany
- StreetAugust 2000Willsden Green, London
- Chocolate Factory Open StudiosNovember 1999Chocolate Factory, Woodgreen, London
- ExhibitionAugust 1999Hove Street, Edinburgh
- Cross-Section - John Elliott & Paul MerrissonJuly 1999Phoenix Gallery, Brighton
- SlowfallMay 1999CyberGlobal Cafe, Soho, London
- Inside OutSeptember 1998Queen's Wood, Highgate, London
- GluedAugust / September 1998The Glue Factory, Bow Wharf, London
- Croak magazineSummer 1998
- ABCEHMUAugust 1998The Chocolate Factory, Woodgreen, London
- Art by DegreeJuly 1998The Millinery Works Gallery, Islington, London
- BA Hons Fine Art1995-1998Middlesex University, London
- Foundation Art & Design1994-1995Chelsea College of Art & Design, London