KEVIN DALTON – JOHNSON
“…Understanding the dislocation experienced by many Diasporic artists has been central to my work as a professional visual artist. My specialism is ceramics, where I feel at home, making large expressive sculpted busts that act as a visual diary of events that reflect my identity and journey as an African Diasporic man living in the United Kingdom…”
Issues of identity are crucial to understanding today’s society and more specifically to Kevin’s work as a British/Jamaican visual artist born in the United Kingdom. Like many others he experiences a great sense of displacement from living with the affects of limited and fragmented information about their culture and heritage.
The highly emotive and powerful ceramic busts he creates are cathartic and provide a spiritual connection with his African ancestors. They explore issues of identity, displacement and de-colonization of the mind and confront an art world deeply rooted in the politics and ideals of a colonial past and challenge this existing structure through interrogation and representation. They are informed by personal experience and post graduate research at The University of Manchester.
He is a commissioned artist who has created the successful permanent sculpture ‘Captured Africans,’ the first memorial public sculpture to memorialize enslaved Africans. Kevin has also engaged in international residency programmes with IFAA (International Festival Arts Arnhem), Tolhuistuin (Funded by Fonz BKVB), to name a few. He has also had solo and group exhibitions at numerous major galleries both national and international (which were well received) and has works in public and private collections.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO |
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| Strange Fruit - Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 2010 | |
| Long Journey Home - Soleil D'Afrique, Bamako, Mali, West Africa | 2010 | |
| Blackfish Diaries - Contact Theatre, Manchester, UK | 2008 | |
| The Distance We Have Travelled - Manchester Town Hall, Manchester, UK | 2008 | |
| The Distance We Have Travelled – Urbis, Manchester, UK | 2007 | |
| Green Room, Manchester, UK | 2002 | |
| Edinboro Penns State University, Pennsylvania, USA | 1992 | |
| Bretton Hall University College of Higher Education, West Yorkshire, UK | 1986 |
GROUP |
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| Emptiness - Art in Red Light, De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands | 2010 | |
| IFAA travelling exhibition De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, Netherlands | 2009 | |
| IFAA international exhibition, Africa Museum, Berg en Dal, Netherlands | 2008 | |
| The Usher Gallery, Lincoln, UK | 2006 | |
| Urbis, Manchester, UK | 2003 | |
| Triangle (with Dorothea Smart) Installation – The Greenroom, Manchester, UK | 2001 | |
| The Holden Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK | 1990 | |
| The Other Story, Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester, UK | 1989 | |
| Greenwich Art Gallery, London, UK | 1987 | |
| Revelations of Black, Royal Exchange, Manchester, UK | 1985 |
FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS
| Solo exhibition, Ververs Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 2011 |
COMMISSIONS
| The Distance We Have Travelled (touring installation exhibition), Ahmed Iqubal Ullah Educational Trust, Manchester, UK | 2008 | |
| Captured African, STAMP Public Art Sculpture, Lancaster, UK | 2005 | |
| Story Telling Bench commission, The Lowry Centre, Salford, UK | 2002 | |
| Mother and Children, Public Art Sculpture, Manchester City Council, UK | 1988 |
RESIDENCIES
| Guest Artist, Tolhuis Tuin Art Centre, Amsterdam North, Amsterdam, Netherlands | 2010 | |
| Guest Artist, Soleil D'Afrique Arts Centre, Bamako, Mali, West Africa. | 2010 | |
| IFAA guest artists in international arts residency, Arnhem, Netherlands | 2008 | |
| Sussed Words - Black Arts Alliance Residency – Manchester HMP, Manchester, UK | 2002 |
UPCOMING RESIDENCY PROJECTS
| Fonz BKVB - Tolhuistuin Public Art Sculpture | 2012 | |
| Fonz BKVB - Tolhuistuin Bronze Casting Residency |
2012 | |
| Fonz BKVB - La Villa Gottfried, Senegal, West Africa | 2012 | |
| Thamgidi Foundation prize for a residency in Zimbabwe | 2011 | |
| Thamgidi Foundation guest artist residency – Beijing, China | 2010 |
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
| Emptiness -Art in Red light, De Oude Kerk, Amsterdam, The Netherlands | 2010 | |
| Africa 53 (Collaboration with IFAA) - Cooper Gallery and The Gallery @, Barnsley, West Yorkshire, UK | 2009 | |
| Trade and Empire: Remembering Slavery - Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, UK | 2007 | |
| Blackfish Diaries - Contact Theatre, Manchester, UK | 2007 |
