Biog



John was born in Belfast. he went to the Art College there before attending The Slade School of Art in London in the mid eighties. It was there that he began to practice as a performer, and has since performed at venues throughout Ireland, the UK, Denmark and Poland.

Returning to Ireland in 1996 he performed 'A Border Worrier' for the 1997 Dublin Theatre Festival. This apparent obsession with the Irish Border culminated in his 'Border Interpretative Centre' (2000) a week long visitor centre project right on the border. It was subsequently documented in solo exhibitions at Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin, Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast and Gallerie Agregat in Mitte, Berlin within sight of the site of the old Berlin Wall.

"Would you die for Ireland?" a 12min video shot by John in the Summer of 2003, involved him travelling the streets of Ireland (Dublin, Belfast, Cork) asking the above question to a wide range of people including Bertie Ahern, members of the Orange order.

In 2004 he installed his 'Dublin's Last Supper' a large digitally manipulated photo-work in enamel, screen-printed and fired onto 9 adjoining panels.

In September 2010 he unveiled 'Misneach', a larger than life equestrian monument commissioned through Breaking Ground as part of the Ballymun regeneration. . This is a one and a half life size bronze horse and rider monument mounted on a plinth. The horse is a copy of the 'Gough Memorial' originally sited in the Phoenix Park which was blown up in 1957. The rider is modelled on a local teenage girl.

In 2010 & 2011 he presented his 'Casting Light' video projection 'mapped' onto the facade of the Ulster Bank in the cantre of Cavan town.

'Good Works' is the culmination of a collaboration with The Palestrina Choir performed in front of a two thousand congregation in the Cavan Cathedral and and subsequently in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham (IMMA) chapel with the combined choirs of the Carlow Choral Society & The Dublin Bach Singers.

John has been the recipient of several Art's Council Awards. His work is in many private and public collections (including the OPW and UCC). He was awarded a Business To Arts Award for 'Casting Light' in 2011.

He now lives and works in Dublin.