John Patrick McKenzie is an autistic San Francisco-based artist, known for creating works of visual poetry

Visual poetry

Visual poetry is poetry or art in which the visual arrangement of text, images and symbols is important in conveying the intended effect of the work. It is sometimes referred to as concrete poetry, a term that predates visual poetry, and at one time was synonymous with it.Visual poetry was heavily...

. His works have been exhibited internationally, including in New York, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

Works

McKenzie's works typically are made up of variations on a theme sentence scrawled in black ink on white paper, though he sometimes uses color or writes on other materials. He writes in a stereotyped font in which all letters are filled in. Pop cultural or political icons figure prominently his works, which always feature a repeating prompt, for example:

George Lucas is full of Luke Skywalker They are full of holy Europe

George Lucas is full of Burger King They are full of holy Asia

George Lucas is full of stars They are full of holy Australia

George Lucas if full of movies

George Lucas is full of Streets of San Francisco and Oceania ...

Reception

McKenzie is considered to be a "rising star" in the world of outsider art

Outsider Art

The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...

. He work has been shown around the world, both in group exhibitions of outsider works (for example in Australia) and is solo shows.

External links

• Online gallery of McKenzie's works a Brett McDowell Gallery