John LeKay
Encyclopedia
John LeKay is an English conceptual
and installation
artist and sculptor, who lives in New York
. In 1993, he began to make skulls covered in crystal
: he has accused Damien Hirst
of copying this and other ideas. He publishes the web site, heyokamagazine.
, London in 1977. He moved to New York in 1991. Instead of higher art education, he travelled with a circus and worked at Pinewood Studios
.
1983–1986, he created an installation
, Non Terrestrial Black Bird of Paradise, consisting of a taxidermied
crow, chairs, chicken wire, glasses and photos: this was exhibited at the Bronx Museum
.
Inspired by the early work of Francis Bacon
and the painting of a slaughtered ox by Rembrandt, he made a “meat series”, 1986–87. An example of this is the 1987 sculpture, This is my Body this is my Blood, consisting of a cut open decapitated lamb carcass, nailed to a piece of plywood. His 1987 sculpture, Wind pipe, was a double bed with a varnished sewer pipe on it.
In 1990, he held his first solo exhibition, at the Paula Allen Gallery, New York. Exhibits included a sensory deprivation tank
, and also a large tape recorder, whose microphone was placed inside a sound-proofed acrylic glass
box in order to record the sound of silence. Another sculpture subtitled Vanishing Object, was a cross made out of closet freshener, which slowly evaporated in a tall acrylic glass
vitrine. Roberta Smith wrote in The New York Times
:
In the early 1990s, LeKay edited an underground magazine entitled Pig, the name referring to a Nostradamus
quatrain about men with pig snouts in flying machines and standing for "Politically Incorrect Geniuses". The main contributors were artists, including Rachel Harrison, Dennis Oppenheim, Sean Landers, Rikrit Tiravaneja, Fred Tomaselli
and Sue Williams, as well as Young British Artists
such as Marcus Harvey
, Angus Fairhurst
and Damien Hirst
.
1990–1994, he made "pour paintings" out of acrylic lacquer metallic car paint, using a hair dryer on some and putting others on a see-saw, swivel table to turn and tilt the paintings to create different shapes as the paint ran. His inspiration for such works came from looking at a science catalogue's microscopic slides of virus
es, bacteria
, AIDS
, bubonic plague
and cancer
, which he described as "quite beautiful under a microscope". The Watercourse Way by Alan Watts
suggested the idea of minimal effort.
In 1991, he exhibited in the group show The Interrupted Life at the New Museum of Contemporary Life, New York, and showed Cryonic Suspension Dewar, a container filled with liquid Nitrogen
at -196°C, 320°F below zero, a temperature which prevents biochemical
and metabolic
activity. LeKay's intention was for a collector to buy the piece, in order to be frozen in it, when they died.
1991–1992, he exhibited at the Feature Gallery and Kenny Schacter Rove Gallery with "sex-pieces", consisting of copulating blow up sex doll
s wearing caricature animal masks. In 1992, he had a show at the Randy Alexander gallery. Work included a stained orthopedic mattress covered with dildo
s, a medical model of a diseased scrotum
, a prosthetic
leg brace attached to a three legged chair, and a wheelchair balanced on top of an aluminum stepladder, the latter piece representing shamanism
.
Critic Gretchen Faust wrote, "There is a quirky humor underlying the work that reverses without warning into a strange and cutting malevolence". In December that year, in a group show, Fever, at Exit Art in New York, he exhibited a leg brace resting on a three-legged chair.
In April 1993, with a reputation as a "participant in a half-dozen trendy group shows" and a “strung out enfant terrible”, he held a show at the Cohen Gallery which “eschewed his previous sexual gimmickry, effectively blending humor and horror.” It was called The Separation of Church and State, consisted of installations from found object
s, and was held in two stages with strong references to Christian iconography
. Two sculptures were shown in the first part of the show. The title piece was a cruciform over stained carpet with a wheelchair in the centre on a mattress and Guns N’ Roses emanating from a tape recorder. A cross formed from items such as brooms and curtain rods connected to four assemblages of household junk, such as a stainless-steel sink on top of a dirty kitchen cabinet, and a headless Madonna and Child sculpture on a black and white television set resting on a leaning toilet. The other installation, Lazyboy Jesus, 1991-92 was a dime-store image of Christ on a Naugahyde La-Z-Boy armchair.
Andrew Perchuk in Artforum
saw in the display, "psychological disablement, the inability to experience the spiritual amidst the noise of materialism, kitsch, television, and our own laziness. At the same time we feel the oppressive nature of much organized religion, which holds out the promise of spiritual solace to those willing to pay up." He observed “a certain formal elegance”, but also that “LeKay attempts to shock, revelling in his obvious poor taste,” an example of the latter being Zipperdeedudazipperdeeday, 1991-92, which appropriated
the voices of homeless black men. George Melrod in Art in America
wrote:
LeKay described These Colors Don't Run, 1991-93’ (an American flag topping a garbage can) as "a suicide machine" and that he worked "on the fine line where something can be really awful or really beautiful."
Damien Hirst
interviewed LeKay and the transcript appears in the catalogue for the show. They were both represented by the Cohen Gallery.
In 1993, inspired by Mayan
skulls, he made 25 skull
s, using crystal to create a glistening effect: "When the light hits it, it looks as if it is covered in diamonds." Initially he used paradichlorobenzene, a substance more often found as a toilet deodoriser. He first showed such a skull at the Cohen Gallery. He subsequently developed this idea, using materials such as soap and wax, artificial diamonds and Swarovski
crystals.
In 1994, he held an exhibition, Delires de L’Ange Neutre (“Delirium of the Neutral Angel”), at the Kenny Schachter gallery in New York. The display consisted of an angel and fourteen demons, each displayed in their own plexiglass vitrine
. The figures were made from paradichlorobenzene and this necessitated LeKay wearing a gas mask
while he worked on the sculptures. The show also went to the University at Buffalo art gallery and similar work was in The Monster Show in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami.
In 1996, LeKay exhibited with the Kenny Schachter at the third annual Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair. Described as “tall and rather forbidding”, he arrived with a large carton containing a head made from paradichlorobenzene.
In January 2005, LeKay started the heyoka magazine.com website, which campaigns against native American poverty and environmental pollution as well as featuring interviews with, amongst others, Buffy Saint Marie, Sarita Choudhury
and Alex James
.
In 2007, when Damien Hirst
exhibited For the Love of God
, a platinum cast of a skull with the surface covered with diamonds, LeKay accused Hirst of copying his idea: "When I heard he was doing it, I felt like I was being punched in the gut. When I saw the image online, I felt that a part of me was in the piece. I was a bit shocked." LeKay has stated that he was a friend of Damien Hirst between 1992 and 1994 and shared a mixed show with him. LeKay also stated that Hirst had got other ideas for his work from a “marked-up duplicate copy” of a Carolina Biological Supply Company catalogue, which he had given him. One example was Hirst’s work Mother and Child, Divided – a cow and calf cut in half and placed in formaldehyde
: "You have no idea how much he got from this catalogue. The Cow Divided is on page 647 – it is a model of a cow divided down the centre, like his piece." Lekay said, "I would like Damien to acknowledge that 'John really did inspire the skull and influenced my work a lot.'"
Group shows have included Modern Museum of Art, Lisbon, Cabinet Gallery, London and Metropol Gallery, Austria.
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
and installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
artist and sculptor, who lives in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. In 1993, he began to make skulls covered in crystal
Crystal
A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituent atoms, molecules, or ions are arranged in an orderly repeating pattern extending in all three spatial dimensions. The scientific study of crystals and crystal formation is known as crystallography...
: he has accused Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
of copying this and other ideas. He publishes the web site, heyokamagazine.
Life and work
John LeKay was born in London. He was educated privately at Isleworth Polytechnic UniversityWest London Institute of Higher Education
The West London Institute of Higher Education was located in Isleworth, West London, UK from 1976 until 1995 when it merged with Brunel University.- Establishment :...
, London in 1977. He moved to New York in 1991. Instead of higher art education, he travelled with a circus and worked at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
.
1983–1986, he created an installation
Installation art
Installation art describes an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called Land art; however, the boundaries between...
, Non Terrestrial Black Bird of Paradise, consisting of a taxidermied
Taxidermy
Taxidermy is the act of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display or for other sources of study. Taxidermy can be done on all vertebrate species of animals, including mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians...
crow, chairs, chicken wire, glasses and photos: this was exhibited at the Bronx Museum
Bronx Museum of the Arts
The Bronx Museum of the Arts is a cultural institution located in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th century works created by American artists, and it has hosted exhibitions of art and design from Latin America, Africa and Asia...
.
Francis Bacon (painter)
Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...
and the painting of a slaughtered ox by Rembrandt, he made a “meat series”, 1986–87. An example of this is the 1987 sculpture, This is my Body this is my Blood, consisting of a cut open decapitated lamb carcass, nailed to a piece of plywood. His 1987 sculpture, Wind pipe, was a double bed with a varnished sewer pipe on it.
Isolation tank
An isolation tank is a lightless, soundproof tank inside which subjects float in salt water at skin temperature. They were first used by John C. Lilly in 1954 to test the effects of sensory deprivation. Such tanks are now also used for meditation and relaxation and in alternative medicine. The...
, and also a large tape recorder, whose microphone was placed inside a sound-proofed acrylic glass
Acrylic glass
Poly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
box in order to record the sound of silence. Another sculpture subtitled Vanishing Object, was a cross made out of closet freshener, which slowly evaporated in a tall acrylic glass
Acrylic glass
Poly is a transparent thermoplastic, often used as a light or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It is sometimes called acrylic glass. Chemically, it is the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate...
vitrine. Roberta Smith wrote in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
:
In the early 1990s, LeKay edited an underground magazine entitled Pig, the name referring to a Nostradamus
Nostradamus
Michel de Nostredame , usually Latinised to Nostradamus, was a French apothecary and reputed seer who published collections of prophecies that have since become famous worldwide. He is best known for his book Les Propheties , the first edition of which appeared in 1555...
quatrain about men with pig snouts in flying machines and standing for "Politically Incorrect Geniuses". The main contributors were artists, including Rachel Harrison, Dennis Oppenheim, Sean Landers, Rikrit Tiravaneja, Fred Tomaselli
Fred Tomaselli
Fred Tomaselli is an American artist. He is best known for his highly detailed paintings on wood panels, combining an array of unorthodox materials suspended in a thick layer of clear, epoxy resin...
and Sue Williams, as well as Young British Artists
Young British Artists
Young British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
such as Marcus Harvey
Marcus Harvey
Marcus Harvey is an English artist and painter, one of the Young British Artists .-Exhibitions:Harvey has shown work internationally in many exhibitions including ‘The Führer's Cakes’ at Galleria Marabini in Bologna, ‘Snaps’ at White Cube in London, ‘Sex and the British’ at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac...
, Angus Fairhurst
Angus Fairhurst
Angus Fairhurst was an English artist working in installation, photography and video. He was one of the Young British Artists .-Life and work:Angus Fairhurst was born in Pembury, Kent...
and Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
.
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
es, bacteria
Bacteria
Bacteria are a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals...
, AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
, bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
and cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
, which he described as "quite beautiful under a microscope". The Watercourse Way by Alan Watts
Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts was a British philosopher, writer, and speaker, best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience. Born in Chislehurst, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York...
suggested the idea of minimal effort.
In 1991, he exhibited in the group show The Interrupted Life at the New Museum of Contemporary Life, New York, and showed Cryonic Suspension Dewar, a container filled with liquid Nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen
Liquid nitrogen is nitrogen in a liquid state at a very low temperature. It is produced industrially by fractional distillation of liquid air. Liquid nitrogen is a colourless clear liquid with density of 0.807 g/mL at its boiling point and a dielectric constant of 1.4...
at -196°C, 320°F below zero, a temperature which prevents biochemical
Biochemistry
Biochemistry, sometimes called biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes in living organisms, including, but not limited to, living matter. Biochemistry governs all living organisms and living processes...
and metabolic
Metabolism
Metabolism is the set of chemical reactions that happen in the cells of living organisms to sustain life. These processes allow organisms to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments. Metabolism is usually divided into two categories...
activity. LeKay's intention was for a collector to buy the piece, in order to be frozen in it, when they died.
Sex doll
A sex doll is a type of sex toy in the size and shape of a sexual partner for aid in masturbation....
s wearing caricature animal masks. In 1992, he had a show at the Randy Alexander gallery. Work included a stained orthopedic mattress covered with dildo
Dildo
A dildo is a sex toy, often explicitly phallic in appearance, intended for bodily penetration during masturbation or sex with partners.- Description and uses :...
s, a medical model of a diseased scrotum
Scrotum
In some male mammals the scrotum is a dual-chambered protuberance of skin and muscle containing the testicles and divided by a septum. It is an extension of the perineum, and is located between the penis and anus. In humans and some other mammals, the base of the scrotum becomes covered with curly...
, a prosthetic
Prosthesis
In medicine, a prosthesis, prosthetic, or prosthetic limb is an artificial device extension that replaces a missing body part. It is part of the field of biomechatronics, the science of using mechanical devices with human muscle, skeleton, and nervous systems to assist or enhance motor control...
leg brace attached to a three legged chair, and a wheelchair balanced on top of an aluminum stepladder, the latter piece representing shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
.
In April 1993, with a reputation as a "participant in a half-dozen trendy group shows" and a “strung out enfant terrible”, he held a show at the Cohen Gallery which “eschewed his previous sexual gimmickry, effectively blending humor and horror.” It was called The Separation of Church and State, consisted of installations from found object
Found object
A found object, in an artistic sense, indicates the use of an object which has not been designed for an artistic purpose, but which exists for another purpose already. Found objects may exist either as utilitarian, manufactured items, or things which occur in nature...
s, and was held in two stages with strong references to Christian iconography
Iconography
Iconography is the branch of art history which studies the identification, description, and the interpretation of the content of images. The word iconography literally means "image writing", and comes from the Greek "image" and "to write". A secondary meaning is the painting of icons in the...
. Two sculptures were shown in the first part of the show. The title piece was a cruciform over stained carpet with a wheelchair in the centre on a mattress and Guns N’ Roses emanating from a tape recorder. A cross formed from items such as brooms and curtain rods connected to four assemblages of household junk, such as a stainless-steel sink on top of a dirty kitchen cabinet, and a headless Madonna and Child sculpture on a black and white television set resting on a leaning toilet. The other installation, Lazyboy Jesus, 1991-92 was a dime-store image of Christ on a Naugahyde La-Z-Boy armchair.
Andrew Perchuk in Artforum
Artforum
Artforum is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art.-Publication:The magazine is published ten times a year, September through May, along with an annual summer issue...
saw in the display, "psychological disablement, the inability to experience the spiritual amidst the noise of materialism, kitsch, television, and our own laziness. At the same time we feel the oppressive nature of much organized religion, which holds out the promise of spiritual solace to those willing to pay up." He observed “a certain formal elegance”, but also that “LeKay attempts to shock, revelling in his obvious poor taste,” an example of the latter being Zipperdeedudazipperdeeday, 1991-92, which appropriated
Appropriation (art)
Appropriation is a fundamental aspect in the history of the arts . Appropriation can be understood as "the use of borrowed elements in the creation of a new work."...
the voices of homeless black men. George Melrod in Art in America
Art in America
Art in America is an illustrated monthly, international magazine concentrating on the contemporary art world, including profiles of artists and genres, updates about art movements, show reviews and event schedules. It is designed for collectors, artists, dealers, art professionals and other...
wrote:
LeKay described These Colors Don't Run, 1991-93’ (an American flag topping a garbage can) as "a suicide machine" and that he worked "on the fine line where something can be really awful or really beautiful."
Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
interviewed LeKay and the transcript appears in the catalogue for the show. They were both represented by the Cohen Gallery.
Maya civilization
The Maya is a Mesoamerican civilization, noted for the only known fully developed written language of the pre-Columbian Americas, as well as for its art, architecture, and mathematical and astronomical systems. Initially established during the Pre-Classic period The Maya is a Mesoamerican...
skulls, he made 25 skull
Human skull
The human skull is a bony structure, skeleton, that is in the human head and which supports the structures of the face and forms a cavity for the brain.In humans, the adult skull is normally made up of 22 bones...
s, using crystal to create a glistening effect: "When the light hits it, it looks as if it is covered in diamonds." Initially he used paradichlorobenzene, a substance more often found as a toilet deodoriser. He first showed such a skull at the Cohen Gallery. He subsequently developed this idea, using materials such as soap and wax, artificial diamonds and Swarovski
Swarovski
Swarovski is the brand name for a range of precisely-cut crystal and related luxury products produced by Swarovski AG of Wattens, Austria...
crystals.
Display case
A display case is a cabinet with one or often more transparent glass sides and/or top, used to display objects for viewing, for example in an exhibition, museum, house, in retail, or a restaurant. Often labels are included with the displayed objects, providing information...
. The figures were made from paradichlorobenzene and this necessitated LeKay wearing a gas mask
Gas mask
A gas mask is a mask put on over the face to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Some gas masks are also respirators, though the word...
while he worked on the sculptures. The show also went to the University at Buffalo art gallery and similar work was in The Monster Show in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami.
In 1996, LeKay exhibited with the Kenny Schachter at the third annual Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair. Described as “tall and rather forbidding”, he arrived with a large carton containing a head made from paradichlorobenzene.
In January 2005, LeKay started the heyoka magazine.com website, which campaigns against native American poverty and environmental pollution as well as featuring interviews with, amongst others, Buffy Saint Marie, Sarita Choudhury
Sarita Choudhury
Sarita Catherine Louise Choudhury is an English actress.-Biography:Choudhury was born in Blackheath, London, England, of half Bengali-Indian and half English descent. Her parents, Prabhas Chandra Choudhury, a scientist, and Julia Patricia Spring, married in 1964 in Lucea, Jamaica...
and Alex James
Alex James
Alex James may refer to:*Alex James , bassist in English band Blur, newspaper columnist and cheesemaker*Alex James , songwriter and producer...
.
Damien Hirst accusations
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
exhibited For the Love of God
For the Love of God
For the Love of God is a sculpture by artist Damien Hirst produced in 2007. It consists of a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds, including a pear-shaped pink diamond located in the forehead...
, a platinum cast of a skull with the surface covered with diamonds, LeKay accused Hirst of copying his idea: "When I heard he was doing it, I felt like I was being punched in the gut. When I saw the image online, I felt that a part of me was in the piece. I was a bit shocked." LeKay has stated that he was a friend of Damien Hirst between 1992 and 1994 and shared a mixed show with him. LeKay also stated that Hirst had got other ideas for his work from a “marked-up duplicate copy” of a Carolina Biological Supply Company catalogue, which he had given him. One example was Hirst’s work Mother and Child, Divided – a cow and calf cut in half and placed in formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
: "You have no idea how much he got from this catalogue. The Cow Divided is on page 647 – it is a model of a cow divided down the centre, like his piece." Lekay said, "I would like Damien to acknowledge that 'John really did inspire the skull and influenced my work a lot.'"
Solo shows
- 1995 University at Buffalo Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
- 1994 Kenny Schachter, New York
- 1993 Cohen Gallery, New York
- 1991 Randy Alexander Gallery, New York
- 1990 Paula Allen Gallery, New York
Group shows have included Modern Museum of Art, Lisbon, Cabinet Gallery, London and Metropol Gallery, Austria.