Art Collections and Reviews:
Author, Michael Corbin 30 Hottest Artists for 2012
Meat for Tea Magazine: 3 drawings chosen Jan 2012
Sarabande Books Louisville Ky. catalog cover 2012
Art of This World: Mary Ann Wakely
Author Michael Corbin interview
Artist interview at Whopple
Margarita Papasideri Gallery
Featured in Art Nouveau Magazine
The Drawing Center New York
Tracey Contemporary Drawing Leicestershire England
Peloux-Raynal Art Collection France Dominique Dartiers Outsider Art
Maddalena Design Studios Birmingham Mi.
Artist Musician Sasha Krivtsov Los Angeles Ca.
Galleries and Exhibits:
2012: Danielle Peleg Gallery W. Bloomfield Mi.
LaFontsee Gallery Grand Rapids Mi.
Lake Shore Gallery Douglas Mi.
Luminarte Gallery Dallas Tx.
Northville Art house Northville Mi.
2011: Danielle Peleg Gallery W. Bloomfield Mi.
Art Effect Gallery Detroit Mi. solo show
Ann Arbor Public Library 20 drawing/collages
Lafontsee Galleries Grand Rapids Mi.
Lakeshore Gallery Douglas Mi.
Luminarte Gallery Dallas Tx.
Art Access Gallery Columbus Oh.
SOPA Fine Arts Kelowna BC Canada
City Streets Exhibition Lansing Mi.
Michigan Fine Art Competition Birmingham Mi.
Hudson Gallery Sylvania Oh.
Lansing Art Gallery Lansing Mi.
Birmingham Conference Center
2010: Our Town art Exhibit Birmingham Mi.
Lumanarte Gallery Dallas Tx.
Lawrence Street Gallery Ferndale Mi.
Canton Fine Art Exhibition Canton Mi.
Washington Adventist University Takoma park Md. solo show
12 Abstract Paintings; Canton Municipal Building solo show
Michigan Fine Art Competition
Busacca Art Gallery San Francisco Ca.
Zatista Art Gallery
Margarita's e-artdrops Art Gallery Spain
pFAn Gallery Professional Fine Art Network
2009: Barristers Gallery New Orleans "folk magic" exhibition
Michigan Fine Art Exhibition BBAC 2 works chosen
140hours Art Auction on Twitter
Canton Fine Art Exhibition collage "Archaeology" merit award
USpace Gallery Atlanta Ga. "the violence of music" exhibit
Our Town Art Exhibit The Community House Birmingham Mi.
Blue Canvas Magazine on-line gallery
2008: Our Town Art Exhibition The Community House Birmingham Mi.
Aron Whiton Fine Art Gallery Houston Tx.
Main Street Gallery Groton N.Y. "national small works painting"
Birmingham Bloomfield Holiday Art Show BBAC
Our Town Art Exhibit The Community House Birmingham Mi.
Lawrence Street Gallery Ferndale Mi.
2006: Our Town Art Exhibit Community House Birmingham Mi.
2005: Canton Fine Art Exhibition Canton Mi. honorable mention
Our Town Art Exhibit Community House Birmingham Mi. juror award prize
2004: Northville Art Show Northville Mi.
Wayne County Council for the Arts
The Village Theater Canton Mi.
Kerrytown Concert House Ann Arbor Mi. solo show
2003: Northville Art Show Northville Mi. award of excellence
Canton Fine Art Exhibition Canton Mi. merit award
Summit on the Park Canton
2002: Northville Art Show Northville Mi. merit award
2001: Northville Art Show Northville Mi. award of excellence
Canton Fine Art Exhibition Canton MI.
2000: Quick Silver Gallery Plymouth Mi. solo show
Canton Fine Art Exhibition Canton Mi.
Northville Art Show Northville Mi.
1999: Northville Art Show Northville mi.
1998: Livonia Arts Festival Livonia Mi.
Canton Fine arts Exhibit Canton Mi.
Northville Art Show Northville Mi.
1997: Canton Fine Art Exhibit Canton Mi.
Northville Art Show Northville mi.
1996: Northville Art Exhibit Northville Mi.
Canton Fine Art Exhibit Canton Mi.
1995: Northville Art Exhibit Northville mi.
1994: Canton Fine Art Exhibit Canton Mi.
Northville Art Exhibit Northville Mi.
1993: Canton Public Library Canton Mi. solo show
Plymouth Community Arts Council Plymouth Mi.
Canton Fine Art Exhibit Canton Mi.
1992: Cranbrook College Art Show (photography) won 1st place
1991: Cranbrook College Art Show Bloomfield Hills Mi.
1990: Scarab Club Gallery Detroit Mi. honorable mention
Cranbrook College Art Show Bloomfield Hills Mi. won 1st place
1989: Washigton Street Gallery Royal Oak Mi.
1983: Canton Public Library Canton Mi. solo show
I have work in many prominent art collections around the world. I was born in Detroit Michigan in 1954 and have been living and working in Canton Mi. since 1980. I work in paintings, drawings, collages and mixed media. Depicting the natural and man made landscape in representational and abstract forms.
The WAU Honors Program presents:
John McLaughlin
Paintings and Drawings
March 23 - May 3, 2010
The work of John McLaughlin (b. 1954) explores the relationship between
humans and their environment. Child-like scribbles are combined with highly
finished drawing and collage elements to create abstract works that still retain
references to natural and man-made objects. McLaughlin is an intuitive artist,
allowing his pieces to develop organically in both form and meaning, and his
works are a source of constant discovery for both him and the viewer. While
entirely self-taught, McLaughlin has affinity with modern artists such as Cy
Twombly and Richard Tuttle. He displays a refinement of form, texture,
and personal vision that is belied by the gestural freedom and playfulness
immediately evident in his pieces.
John McLaughlin
Paintings and Drawings
March 23 - May 3, 2010
Exhibition Notes
"I believe in today's hectic world we need more spiritual or soul enrichment. Art can help provide this nourishment." - John McLaughlin
What are we to make of these artworks on display? They contain elements that seem like a child made them. They are abstract on one level, and yet contain shapes that also reference concrete things that we recognize. What do they mean?
The work of Michigan artist John McLaughlin (b. 1954) explores the relationship between humans and their environment. Child-like scribbles are combined with highly finished drawing and collage elements to create abstract works that still retain references to natural and man-made objects. McLaughlin is an intuitive artist, allowing his pieces to develop organically in both form and meaning, and his works are a source of constant discovery for both him and the viewer. While entirely self-taught, McLaughlin has affinity with modern artists such as Cy Twombly, known for his canvases strewn with smears and graffiti-like scrawls, and Richard Tuttle, who often has large amounts of blank space around detailed drawings and simple markings. McLaughlin displays a refinement of form, texture, and personal vision that is belied by the gestural freedom and playfulness immediately evident in his pieces.
McLaughlin is not connected to the world of "high art"; rather he is on the periphery. He has developed his style of art over a period of decades, observing the things that surround him in his semi-rural environment: "Most of my work is derived from nature with the human interaction, filtered through my imagination." His artwork, then, directly reflects the suburban in-between life, with the detritus of human activity mingled with the natural world. This interaction is sensed in works like "Landscape Cam" (no 19) and "Beech Shadow" (no 11).
Beyond this, McLaughlin's art meditates on the state of modern culture, such as in "Heart Feld" (no 9) and "Self" (no 22). Read McLaughlin's own comments on these works in the exhibition list, and see how your view of these pieces change. Then look at pieces such as "Enlightenment" (no 13) "Cosmos" (no 16), and "Seeking Environment" (no 25). Read McLaughlin's statements about these pieces, and notice how they are concerned with the contribution of the individual to the world, the role of art as "enlightenment," and the ultimate goal, to seek an environment of beauty. Think about the quote from McLaughlin at the beginning of these notes: he notices that our culture and world have problems, and yet he believes that art can perform the "soul enrichment" needed to counteract these.
So how does McLaughlin make his art, and how does this process create meaning? He says, "I work on my drawings/collages every day. Usually several at a time. Some are finished in one day, others are modified and added on to for several days. I don't pre-plan what I make, I let the work guide me. Most are organic abstractions but some have representational aspects to them." McLaughlin uses many materials in the collages, including intuitive, almost random scribbling, careful pencil drawings of abstract or semi-defined shapes, magazine cut-outs, other collage elements, as well as white out, pen and ink, markers, crayon, and even organic materials like leaves, tea, and berry stains. As he says of his working process, he allows the meaning to build up automatically: "Insignificant marks at first, but they do take on meaning." McLaughlin is not interested in "capturing" some static meaning, but in allowing the works to develop, reading and seeing his own work, and reacting to it at every step. In this way, he builds up layers of intuitive action and conscious response. Ultimately he is just as surprised as we may be with the results. He says that his pieces have a definite meaning for him, but also that the meaning may be something entirely different for someone else.
His paintings often start with a solid cream-colored background, making the larger backdrop similar to the paper surfaces he uses for the collages. He then draws and marks on the canvases. More recently, in works like "Ravine" (no 2) and "The Music of Paint" (no 3), he has covered a canvas with marks underneath, created more conscious areas of colors, and then has painted around these shapes to leave areas exposed underneath. There is a final layer of pencil markings on the top, which interacts in interesting ways with the exposed under-layers. As with all of McLaughlin's art, these pieces show a complexity of composition and technique with a result of apparent simplicity.
McLaughlin's art is sincere, dedicated, and unpretentious. It has evolved through continual practice over the past several decades, and offers an unending supply of images for us to contemplate and discuss. What more could one ask from art? |
