John Richey

John Richey is a cross-disciplinary artist working predominately with sculptural assemblage, installation, and video. His work has explored issues of identity, and the concepts of both interpersonal/mass communication and miscommunication/communication breakdown. Recently Richey has been examining a number of text based collections, (including a series of found handwritten notes and a group of appropriated safety brochures) in an attempt to accentuate and heighten their inherent theatricality. By doing so Richey translates the bodies of banal information into objects, environments, or projections that push and emphasize the absurd and spectacular. Richey received a BFA in visual arts from the University of Arizona School of Art in 2001. While attending the University of Arizona he worked closely with painter Barbara Penn and photographer/video-maker Joyan Saunders to create paintings and drawings as well as performative, video, and mixed media installations. As Gallery Coordinator for the Lionel Rambach, Richey ran the exhibition space, writing press releases and working with student artists to conceptualize, produce, and install gallery exhibitions. In 2001 he moved to San Diego to become part of the graduate/research community at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). While attending UCSD he had the privilage to study and engage with such mentors as Ernest Silva, Barbara Kruger, Jennifer Pastor, Grant Kester and others. Richey has exhibited nationally and internationally and has also been published in zingmagazine: a curatorial crossroads. In early 2004 Richey mounted his thesis exhibition and released the self published everything under control: a survival manual which highlights work from his graduate career. Richey is currently living and working in Brooklyn, New York.