Art Exhibition: John Lymer – Deconstruction ** 29 Aug – 29 Sep 2014 ** Art Schism, Brighton

For the latest in Art Schism’s solo exhibition series, the gallery is showcasing the mixed media, collage work of John Lymer. Lymer, a Brighton based artist, specialises in creating collages that are on the one hand touchingly beautiful, on the other painfully discordant.

Speaking about his work Lymer said: “My work is simply about the love of making collages. I love juxtaposing, experimenting and mucking about with random images. My work starts off like a puzzle or an experiment that I need to solve. They evolve as I work on them, they have a life of their own, and they don’t end as they start.”

His work can leave you with a mixture of conflicted feelings. Sometimes his pieces appear idiosyncratic, fun and quirky, at other times, dark and difficult to fathom. Though there are obvious references to Dada artists such as George Grosz, Hannah Hoch and Raoul Hausmann, as well as some strong influences from Ben K Voss, Dave Mckean, and 45rpm. But, Lymer tries to stay away from ever being pigeon holed within a certain style, changing directions if it ever becomes too close to being someone else’s style, allowing him to develop his own visual language.

“I am fascinated by how images can subvert an idea you’ve recently come up with, or how they can undermine a direction you had chosen to take only moments before. It’s a smashing down and a building up process.”

He deals with concerns which are key to his development as an artist, experimenting with a wide variety of different textured surfaces and materials. This becomes different faces and other body parts alongside man made and organic objects which overlap in detailed layers within his work. These connections have all hybridized into some truly arresting mixed media collages.

via EVENTS – art schism.