John David Yeadon (born 1948) is a British artist, and art educator. A practicing artist for over 50 years, he explored issues of politics, sexuality, food, national identity, the grotesque and carnival. In the 1980s his work was provocative with issues relating to male sexuality.
An eclectic artist essentially a painter and printmaker, his work has included text, digital images, photography, and he has worked on banner making, theatre design and has collaborated with video artists.
Yeadon's grandmother was the
ventriloquist
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is a performance act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) creates the illusion that their voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered prop known as a "dummy". The act of ventriloquism is v ...
Annie Howarth, who worked under the stage name
Josephine Langley. Recurring themes in his paintings since 2010 include his mother and grandmother’s
ventriloquist dummies
Yeadon's 1984 exhibition Dirty Tricks at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, was at the high point of AIDS paranoia and gay ‘blame’, Yeadon’s forthright, radical, critical, ‘in your face’ paintings challenged preconceptions on sexuality and society. These paradoxes disturbed and offended some Tory councillors.
The Coventry Evening Telegraph declared that it was 'Smut Not Art' in a homophobic editorial rant. However the exhibition increased the attendance at the Herbert by 40%. Works from this exhibition were later that year exhibited at the Pentonville Gallery in London and the British Art Show of 1985. The Arts Council of Britain also bought a version of ‘The Last Chilean Supper’ one of the ‘lavatory wall smut’ paintings so derided in the Coventry Evening Telegraph.
With over 30 one person shows he has exhibited throughout Britain and abroad, including in Portugal and Germany, and his one person shows in Britain including the Royal Festival Hall, Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow and Ikon, Birmingham. His group shows included the British Art Show (1985/6) and exhibitions in Germany, Holland, Portugal and Hong Kong.
He set up the Coventry-Dresden Arts Exchange in 2012.
Fat
Again, Yeadon was criticised by the local media for including tiny images of obese people culled from the Internet in his exhibition on food; these pictures were removed from the exhibition. ''Fat: The mortality of the eater and the eaten'' at the Bath Place Community Venture in
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...
in 2010.
Harwell computer
Yeadon's 9x7ft painting of the
Harwell Dekatron WITCH computer, ''Portrait of a Dead Witch'' made in 1983, was exhibited at the 1984 at Leicestershire Schools and Colleges show, and subsequently purchased by
Newbridge High School,
Coalville
Coalville is an industrial town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Tr ...
, Leicestershire. Within two years of that school becoming a private
academy school
An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...
, the painting was sold at auction in 2015 to an undisclosed private buyer.
The National Museum of Computing helped discover the painting on the wall of the Jam Street Cafe Bar in Manchester. Kaldip Bhamber, who has a fine arts degree, was unaware of the painting's provenance when she purchased it. Yeadon has visited the painting at its new location.
The painting was a witty subversive irony on 'computer art'; that is a painting of a computer posing as 'computer art'. After 35 years Yeadon has now painted the Live Witch a second version of this computer, for the 5th anniversary of the rebooted computer which pays homage to this national treasure now residing at The National Museum of Computing, Bletchley Park. In February 2018 the two paintings were brought together for an exhibition on Yeadon's 70th birthday at The National Museum of Computing.
Teaching
Yeadon has been a visiting lecturer at
Slade School of Fine Art
The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...
and at the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...
, also
Goldsmiths College
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...
,
Chelsea College of Art
Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation.
It offers further and higher educat ...
,
Wimbledon School of Art
Wimbledon College of Arts, formerly Wimbledon School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London specialising in theatre, screen and performance art. It is located in Wimbledon and Merton Park, South West London.
...
,
Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art (GSA; gd, Sgoil-ealain Ghlaschu) is a higher education art school based in Glasgow, Scotland, offering undergraduate degrees, post-graduate awards (both taught and research-led), and PhDs in architecture, fine art, and ...
and, whilst as a full time Lecturer from 1973–2002, at
Coventry University
, mottoeng = By Art and Industry
, established =
, type = Public
, endowment = £28 million (2015)
, budget = £787.5 million
, chancellor = Margaret Casely-Hayford
, vice_chancellor = John Latham
, students = ()
, undergr ...
, where he eventually led the MA Fine Art course.
Works
* ''The Last Chilean Supper'' –
Arts Council Collection,
Southbank Centre
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge).
It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...
* ''Modern Art, Disco Drawing'' –
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum
Herbert Art Gallery & Museum (also known as the Herbert) is a museum, art gallery, records archive, learning centre, media studio and creative arts facility on Jordan Well, Coventry, England.
Overview
The museum is named after Sir Alfred Herb ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeadon, John
British artists
Academics of Coventry University
Academics of the Slade School of Fine Art
1948 births
Living people
20th-century British artists
21st-century British artists
Academics of Goldsmiths, University of London
Academics of Chelsea College of Arts
Academics of Wimbledon College of Arts
Academics of the Royal College of Art
Academics of the Glasgow School of Art