John Brooks always has enjoyed creative visual arts and studied at Bath College, his specialty being graphics and photography. In 1966 he won first prize from Queen’s College, Oxford for a graphic design competition.
Throughout his early years working in the medium, he used a variety of techniques and equipment for film photography from 35mm to plate cameras processing and printing most of his work.
Much of his work was minimalist or abstract and soon led to his work being exhibited in 1977 at the leading regional art gallery of the 1970’s, the Arnolfini in Bristol.
Subsequently he had his work exhibited in galleries in Bristol, Bath and London.
His career in art resumed in 2010 and made a great impact by being exhibited at the Royal West of England Academy (of Art) with three pieces being accepted in the 2011 Open exhibition of photography. In 2012 he was admitted a member of the RWA Artist Network and has exhibited at the Academy each year since 2011.
Other recent exhibitions include the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, various exhibitions in London, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco as well as regional galleries in the USA and the UK.
Reassembling Landscapes
John Brooks is interested in abstraction within urban and pastoral spaces. There is a certain element of constructivism in his pieces, by which he re-imagines and then re-constructs landscapes.
In this work “At the Beach” he uses layering techniques to assemble these stunning images by freezing a moment in time of the interaction of humans in a scene with their surroundings which are given the perception of moving through time. The end result is both intriguing and captivating.