Born 1 April 1949, Stroudsburg PA
John Wells could be called an outsider artist, but one fully at home in the New York art world, For the better part of seven decades he has articulated a personal iconography that draws equally from popular culture, religious texts, flights of personal whimsy, and abstract exploration. Serious considerations from Tibetan, Rosicrucian, Christian and other ancient texts are never ponderous in effect, but - couched in an aesthetic which successfully reconfigures virtually all of the formal inventions of modernism - such texts appear to be almost playful. Analogous to Wells' approach is that of a monk in a medieval scriptorium, copying sacred texts while inserting here and there the vagaries of his own thoughts and imagination.
Following an education at Storm King and Carnegie Mellon, Wells moved to New York in the 1970’s to attend Columbia for a film degree. He quickly became an active personality within the shifting avant garde of his day. Close friends were John-Michael Tebelak, creator of Godspell, and poet-laureate John Ashbery. In the 1980s Wells appeared at the center of action in galleries as Barbara Braathen, Patrick Fox, 56 Bleecker, and the Dactyl Foundation. In the 2000s, he participated in Tom Beale's Honey Space, perhaps the last bastion of bohemia in New York, given a front page color spread in the New York Times headlined "No Windows, No Heat, No Staff, No Rent", plus an obituary four years later in 2012.
Wells generally works in series, of gouache on paper. Much of his output manifests in archaic forms seldom seen in the contemporary art world: scrolls, folding screens, painted environments, ceremonial fans, postcards, and paper ephemera. He has created a number of room and window installations, and has also developed singing performances which draw on an appreciation of music of all ages. His current project is a celebratory circumambulation of Bethesda Fountain, involving all the arts including music, poetry, dance, theatre, painting and sculpture. It is dedicated to the glory of New York City. Roots in New York are deep: Wells is the scion of a Dutch family which arrived shortly after the Mayflower. The Wyckoff House in Brooklyn, the first building to be studied in American architecture, was donated by his family to the City of New York and is now a museum.
Another creative talent involves food. In a truly civilized manner, whether with five dollars and five minutes, John manages to create a most scrumptious gourmet feast and throw the best imaginable dinner party with the finest conversation in the world. Always, it's the spirit that counts.
Exhibitions:
Family Business Gallery, New York
Pioneer Works, Brooklyn
Gallery 225, New York
Honey Space, New York
B&B Gallery, New York
56 Bleecker Gallery, New York
Midtown Payson Gallery, New York
Aaron Berman Gallery, New York
Barbara Braathen Gallery, New York
White Box Gallery, New York
Elaine Kauffman Cultural Center, New York
Lehigh University, Pennsylvania
Palais Royale in Paris
Moscow Bieniale
Press:
Artforum Nov 1994
Art in America Oct 1994
The New York Times 4 Aug 2012
The Wall Street Journal 20 Aug 2012
Contact:
John Wells (570) 977-7601
Barbara Braathen (917) 207-0454