DOMOBAAL

*1966 Bedfordshire, UK
lives/works in London

Since 1999 Strutton’s practice has taken the form of drawing, installation, video/animation and performance. The work often uses the strategy of accrual to deal with a visual form of veneration and cultural reclamation. The resulting installations of paintings, drawings and objects become a kind of makeshift memorial, an ex–voto offering where nostalgia becomes a form of revenge. The sedimentary process creates a convoluted cosmos of effigies, mandalas, portraits and trophies, a graveyard whose architecture is sustained by anxiety. Sometimes brutal, often absurd, his approach to figuration is fractured, automatic and schizophrenic. He shares a preoccupation with ritualistic process, debased iconographies and compulsive aesthetics with the likes of Austin Osman Spare and Antonin Artaud. He is currently Senior Tutor in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. He formed The Band of Nod in 1999 and was co–founder/director of 39, a project space in London together with Alan Miller. Since 2005 he has been writing and performing in his band Arthur Brick. Amongst other bookings, Arthur Brick have also gigged at the opening of The Manchester Contemporary and the first London Art Book Fair, at the Whitechapel Gallery in 2009.

John Strutton: biography pdf

Education

1992 – 1995 Middlesex University, London, BA (Hons) Fine Art

1996 – 1998 Royal College of Art, London, MA Painting

Current Academic Appointment

Senior Tutor in Painting, Royal College of Art, London.

Solo Exhibitions

2016

: Anna Lies, domobaal.

2014

: Grease Madonna, domobaal.

2012

: Opus Dopus, domobaal.

2011

: No Epitaph Needed, Asylum Arts, Caroline Gardens Chapel, London SE15 2SQ.

2009

: I Sent You A Message But You Did Not Respond (collaboration with Lucy Pawlak) domobaal.

: Donderslag, domobaal, with Arthur Brick gig at the opening.

: Volta NY: The Age of Anxiety, Donderslag: solo project, domobaal.

2008

: Dumb Tings, Coleman Projects, London (collaboration with Stephen Dunne).

2005

: Nos Cunctus Comitatus Nod 39, London (collaboration with Alan Miller).

2003

: A Short History of The Band of Nod, K3, Zurich, Switzerland.

: 777" Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York.

2002

: Sixstring Nylon, London.

: Hesitator, Parkhaus, Düsseldorf, Germany.

2001

: Hesitator, Liste Basel, Switzerland (solo presentation).

2000

: Father, Son & Scary Ghost Nylon, London.

: The Land of Nod (collaboration with George Shaw) Lift Gallery, London.

Group Exhibitions and Performances (selection)

2016

: Ensorcelé, The Enchanted Hunter, Lucy Boyle, Beatrice Lettice Boyle, John Strutton, Maverick Projects, AMP Gallery, London.

2015

: Music Meets Art with John Strutton, at MK Gallery, Thursday 7 August at 7pm.

: Dear Serge, video screening followed by Q&A in the auditorium at The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, UK.

: Dear Serge, Original Copy: John Strutton and Rick Carbone, Sunday Special at The De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, UK.

2014

: Original Copy, The Edwardian Cloakroom, Bristol (performance with Riccardo Carbone).

: Boyleandshaw present: an evening of performance with Leigh Clarke, Bob and Roberta Smith, John Strutton and Dan Holliday, The Performance Studio, London.

: The Right Hand Gives, The Left Hand Takes Away, Extrapool, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

2013

: MK calling, MK Gallery, UK.

: Drawing Biennial 2013, Drawing Room, UK.

: Rug Whoops, John Strutton, Ellen Groneyemer, Stuart Middleton, Alex Rathbone, Joshua Abelow and a performance by Ben Waller aka The Rebel at The Sunday Painter, London.

2012

: Zerrissenheit, Film and Video show, curated by Stephen Dunne with Alexander Tucker, Anthony Green, John Strutton, Laura Buckley, Mark Titchner, Oonagh O'Brien, Seana Gavin & Rhys Coren at RISE, Berlin, Germany.

: 100 Mothers, Contemporary Art Space Chester, University of Chester, Kingsway Buildings.

: The Perfect Nude, curated by Dan Coombs and Phillip Allen, Wimbledon Space, London.

: Other surfaces, a group exhibition of short films and videos, curated by Rebecca Geldard, Poppy Sebire, London.

: Original Copy, The Function Room, London, in collaboration with Riccardo Carbone.

2011

: In Case we don't die, KPH Volume Project Space, Copenhagen, Denmark.

: Mail Art at the Memorial, curated by Pablo Ferretti at Galeria Progresso, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

: In Case we don't die, curated by Bibi Katholm in collaboration with Wonderland Art Space, Helen Nyborg Contemporary, Copenhagen, Denmark.

: The Tyranny of Grammar curated by John Strutton at Fishmarket Gallery, Northampton, UK.

: Random Acts, broadcast on channel 4, 8.12.11 (collaboration with George Shaw)

2010

: Above the Serious, The Gallery, Stoke Newington Library, London.

: In Case we don't die, curated by Bibi Katholm in collaboration with Wonderland Art Space, Berlin, Germany.

: Legends of Circumstance, Bargate Monument Gallery, Southampton.

2009

: We're Moving, Royal College of Art, London.

: Local Meat is my Veg, Caribic residency, Hamburg, Germany.

: Baker's Dozen, curated by Clare Goodwin at CPG London.

: The London Art Book Fair, domobaal gallery, Whitechapel Gallery. Arthur Brick: invited to perform as the opening event of the fair.

: The Manchester Contemporary, domobaal gallery. Arthur Brick: invited to perform as the opening event of the fair.

: Time is a Sausage (A Show of Shows) domobaal.

: Peter Harris: Self–Portraits by Proxy, Mummery + Schnelle, London.

: Art Brussels, STAND projects: domobaal/London, De–Expeditie/Amsterdam, Tatjana Pieters/OneTwenty, Gent.

: Art Rotterdam, STAND projects: domobaal/London, De–Expeditie/Amsterdam, Tatjana Pieters/OneTwenty, Gent.

2008

: Precious Things, Highlanes Gallery, Drogheda, Ireland.

: Parkhaus: Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Germany.

: The Band of Nod, Camden Arts Centre, London (weekend event and performance).

2006

: The Band of Nod, Tate Britain, London (collaboration with John Hegley and The Archie Bronson Outfit as part of Late at Tate).

2004

: Chaime Soutine: Happy Sailor Tattoo Parlour and Barbican Centre, London.

: Tape 291, 291 Gallery, London.

: Radio Radio, The Trade Apartment, London.

2003

: Hand Luggage K3, Zurich, Switzerland.

: What Am I Doing Here, Esso Gallery, New York.

: Flaca Gallery, London.

: Masstab Eins Zu Eins (scale one–to–one), Anker, Zurich, Switzerland.

2002

: Air Guitar: Milton Keynes Gallery, Milton Keynes, Cornerhouse, Manchester and touring.

: John Hegley vs The Band of Nod, The Water Rats, London

2001

: The Band of Nod, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London performance at Centenary show opening).

: Record Collector, curated by Mel Brimfield, VTO, London, The International 3, Manchester, Espace D'Art Contemporain, Geneva.

: Counter, Avco, London.

2000

: Funny, Andrew Mummery Gallery, London.

: Visions at the Nunnery, Nunnery Gallery London.

: Dark Pop, Five Years Gallery, London.

: Homage to the Budokan, Foyles Art Gallery, London.

: Hackney Arts Club, Hackney Empire, London (group show with Band of Nod performance).

: Ark 2000, Dilston Grove, London.

: The Land of Nod, Lift Gallery, London (collaboration with George Shaw)

1999

: Confederacy of Pleasures, Gallery Westland Place, London.

: Shopping, curated by FAT, Carnaby Street, London.

: Spent, Lord Palmerston, London.

: It Looks Like Rain … (touring exhibition) The Niggendjker Gallery, Gronigen, Netherlands, The Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, Ireland, Arthouse, Dublin, Rep Ireland, Chulalongkorn University Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand, Ex–Teresa, Mexico City, Mexico.

: The British on Paper, Galleria Sonia Rosso, Pordenone, Italy.

: What is Love? Five Years Gallery, London.

: Sigil, Nylon, London.

: Seguridad Social, Ex–Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico.

1998

: Forest, curated by Lucy Harrison and Bob Matthews, The Bull & Last, London.

Bibliography

2009

: Review by Rebecca Geldard, Art Review Magazine, Summer Issue.

2008

: Guardian Guide, review of Pentimenti, at Permament Gallery, Brighton.

: Irish Times, Aidan Dunne, review of Precious Things, Ireland, October.

2007

: Frozen Tears III, Ed John Russell, ARTicle Press.

: Time Out, review of Top Twenty (exhibition of the week) August.

2005

: Metro, review of Under 5s vol.3, Fisun Guner, 22.07.05

: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, article on London project spaces, Marianne Burki, 06.06.05.

2004

: The Guardian Guide, Radio Radio, Jessica Lack, 10.04.04.

: Metro, Review of Birdhouse, Fisun Guner, 11.03.04.

: Miser and Now, issue 2, profile of 39.

: Fantastic Cities, Edited by Lucy Harrison, Kent Institute of Art & Design.

2002

: Metro, Review of Air Guitar, 24.09.02.

: AN Magazine, Review of Air Guitar, October.

: Contemporary, Reconsidering Rock, Duncan Maclaren, November.

: Time Out, Review of Sixstring, Martin Herbert, October 2-9.

: Air Guitar, Art Reconsidering Rock Music, Milton Keynes Gallery.

2001

: The Tastemakers, U.K. Art Now, Rosie Millard, Thames and Hudson.

: Counter, Text by Malcolm Quinn, Mrs.+ Mr.Design (imprint).

: Contemporary Visual Arts, Review of Counter 2, Chris Horrocks, issue 34.

: The Big Issue, Preview of Counter 2, Helen Sumpter ,15.01.01.

2000

: Independent on Sunday, Review of Father, Son & Scary Ghost, Duncan McLaren, 23.06.00.