John Casey

John Casey Bio

Born on Friday the 13th in 1964 in Salem, Massachusetts, I started inventing creatures as soon as I was able to hold a crayon. Drawings that my mother saved from when I was only three years old reveal my obsession with the figure. The figures in these drawings show not only the distorted perceptions of a child, but my fascination with skulls, teeth, spirographic eyes, and invented body parts. My obsession with strange creatures continued throughout my youth. Monster models, war dioramas, dinosaurs, and horror movies on television occupied much of my time.
I graduated from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston in 1988 with a BFA in Painting and began a studio practice in Boston, Massachusetts that focused on surreal figurative painting and drawing. Eventually I added figurative sculpture and painted wood cutouts as part of my process as well. I have shown in galleries in Boston, Portland, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as international venues in France, Germany, and Denmark. My work is included in collections at the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the di Rosa Preserve in Napa, California, and the Artothèque de Caen in France.
I moved to the Bay Area a number of years ago and currently live in Oakland, California with my lovely wife Mary.


Curriculum Vitae

JOHN CASEY
b. 1964, Salem, Massachusetts

EDUCATION
1988 B.F.A. (Honors), Massachusetts College of Art

SELECTED SOLO/TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2019 Odd Blossom, Nielsen Gallery, Berkeley, CA
2019 GMO/OMG, Antler Gallery, Portland, OR
2018 Parts Is Parts, Bench Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 How to Get a Head, NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA
2015 Okay/Not Okay, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2015 Happy Accidents, The Compound Gallery, Oakland, CA
2014 Upstarts and Rejects, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA
2013 Silver Cord, Rock Paper Scissors Collective, Oakland, CA
2013 Little Exorcisms, Breeze Block Gallery, Portland, OR
2012 Big Idea, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2011 Tall Tales, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA
2010 New Works, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2010 Hope Springs Internal, POVevolving, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Distant Cousins, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA
2009 No One We Know, The Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA
2008 Picket Fencing, Swarm Gallery, Oakland, CA
2008 New Works, TAG Art Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007 Strange Fruit: Bad Seeds, Receiver Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Metamorphosis Chamber, FPAC Gallery, Boston, MA
2007 New Works, TAG Art Gallery, Nashville, TN
2006 Headache, Boontling Gallery, Oakland, CA
2006 Along Came a Spider, 33 Grand, Oakland, Oakland, CA
2005 Creature Double Feature, National Product, San Francisco, CA
2005 Unusual Suspects, Cricket Engine Gallery, Oakland, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Bird, Nest, Nature, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2019 Rendezvous at the Gardens, Château d’Esquelbecq, Esquelbecq, France
2019 Pareidolia, Talon Gallery, Portland, OR
2018 Don’t Wake Daddy XIII, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2018 The Art of The Mushroom, The Compound Gallery, Oakland, CA
2018 Il sole è cieco, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2018 Strange Forest, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
2018 Sentimental Mood, First Amendment Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2017 Little Utopias, Talon Gallery, Portland, OR
2017 Don’t Wake Daddy XII, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2017 Creature Feature, Red Truck Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2017 Tekelili, Faultline Artspace, Oakland, CA
2017 Sweet n Low, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2017 Tondo, Spoke Art, San Francisco, CA
2017 me/you, c2c project space, San Francisco, CA
2017 Familiar, Talon Gallery, Portland, OR
2016 Achroma, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2016 Subtle Gaze, Gravity Gallery, Aspen, CO
2015 Don’t Wake Daddy X, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2015 Partie de campagne, Galerie Polaris, St. Briac, France
2015 Habitats, Antler Gallery, Portland, OR
2015 Zealot's Elixir, Modern Eden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 Corrective Course, Marcas Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA
2014 The Passage, Orinda Public Library, Oakland, CA
2014 Beacons, Faultline Artspace, Oakland, CA
2014 Revolver: Once Around the Sun, Hellion Gallery, Portland, OR
2013 Neu Folk Revival, Le Qui Vive Gallery, Oakland, CA
2013 Art Dorks: Rise, Space:Eight, St. Augustine, FL
2013 Head Case, Echo Gallery, Calistoga, CA
2013 Désirance, Galerie Polaris, Paris, France
2012 Don’t Wake Daddy VII, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2012 A Show of Heads, Le Qui Vive Gallery, Oakland, CA
2012 Oakland NOW, Spoke Art, Oakland, CA
2012 FAX, San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2011 Dig For Fire, C.A.V.E. Gallery, Venice, CA
2011 Outlandish: Contemporary Depictions of Nature, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
2011 There Is No Telling, Double Punch Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2010 Gone, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2010 Secret Drawings, Palo Alto Arts Center, Palo Alto, CA
2010 Four Play, Webb Gallery, Waxahachie, TX
2009 Don’t Wake Daddy IV, Feinkunst Krüger, Hamburg, Germany
2009 From One Hand to One Mind to One Hand to Your Mind, Los Medanos College, Pittsburg, CA
2009 Tales from an Imaginary Menagerie, Palo Alto Arts Center, Palo Alto, CA
2009 Characters R Us, Musée d'Art Contemporain, Bordeaux, France
2008 Crossing the Line, New Perspectives in Drawing, Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA
2008 Bay Area Currents, Oakland Art Gallery, Oakland, CA
2008 No Brow, Black Maria Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008 FasTrak – A bridge and Tunnel Survey, Lobot Gallery, Oakland, CA
2007 The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
2007 Banai/Godzilla, SFMOMA Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2007 Free Parking, OKOK Gallery, Seattle, WA
2007 Graphic: New Bay Area Drawing, di Rosa Preserve, Napa, CA
2001 Terrors and Wonders: Monsters in Contemporary Art, DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA


PUBLICATIONS
“Hands & Pants,” Curated and designed by Margaret Tedesco and printed by Edition One Books, Berkeley, CA
Feature in Hi-Fructose Art Magazine #41, USA
Feature in Hey! #24, Bilingual Art Magazine, Paris, France
“Call & Response,” Published by Underline Press, Oakland, CA
“John Casey, Scarecrow,” Published by Rowan Morrison, Oakland, CA
“The Upset: Young Contemporary Art,” Published by Gestalten, Berlin, Germany
“Pen to Paper,” Published by Pictoplasma, Berlin, Germany

COLLECTIONS
de Young Museum
di Rosa Preserve
Artothèque de Caen

AWARDS & RESIDENCIES
East Bay Express Best of the Bay - Best Artist 2012
Affiliate Artist Program, Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA

OAKLAND