Education
Chelsea College of Art and Design.
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John Riddy
Edit ProfileCareer
He lives and works in London and has exhibited internationally since 1998. Riddy started taking and printing photographs at the age of 14 and earned a Bachelor and Master of Arts in Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art (1980-1984). Since his first solo exhibition in 1993 Riddy has consistently worked in series, with an emphasis on considered description.
Architecture, the particularities of place and the urban environment have been constant subjects, whilst the starting point for many of his series has been the relationship between photography and the history of art and architecture.
Typical examples are the autobiography of John Ruskin, the woodblock prints of Hokusai and the photographs of Gustave le Gray. Choices about format, materials and technique have been intrinsic to each series and Riddy’s focus has been on the exhibited print.
In 1993 Riddy had his first solo exhibition with the Cairn Gallery. Shortly afterwards he started working with Frith Street Gallery who continue to represent him.
His first survey exhibition was at Camden Arts Centre in 2000 and he showed his series Views from Shin-Fuji at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2006.
He has exhibited regularly with Galerie Paul Andriesse in the Netherlands and Lawrence Markey in the United States of America. His exhibition Palermo at Frith Street gallery in 2013 was reviewed by theguardian.com and Aesthetica Magazine. Aesthetica described the photographs as "anything but spontaneous. Physical decay of the urban landscape is juxtaposed with a remarkable formal beauty just as, in a more conceptual sense, time and timelessness contend with each other in these works".
Adrian Searle commented "If his photographs have anything to do with Cartier-Bresson"s "decisive moment", it is a moment that has taken months and several visits to present itself.
lieutenant is the moment when everything seems alive but precisely nothing is happening.". Solo exhibitions
Palermo, Frith Street Gallery, London, 2013 Low Relief - Photographs of London, Frith Street Gallery, London, 2009 Views from Shin-Fuji, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2006 John Riddy, Camden Arts Centre, 2000
Praeterita, touring exhibition, Ruskin Gallery, Sheffield, Brantwood, Coniston, Ruskin Library, Lancaster, 2000
Southampton City Art Gallery, Hampshire
Tate, London
Victoria and Albert Museum, London
De Pont Museum, Tilburg
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Arts Council of Great Britain, London
British Council Collection
Other critical writings
Rachel Withers, Art Forum, June 2009
Rebecca Geldard, Time Out Exhibition of the Week, March 2009.
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Born
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Nationality
British