John K. Lawson (artist)

John K. Lawson aka JKL (born 1962 in Birmingham, England) is an American Contemporary visual artist and poet, also known as the "Hieronymus Bosch of Beads," and is known for using salvaged Mardi Gras beads and items reclaimed from the destruction left by Hurricane Katrina in his art.

Early Life and Career

John K. Lawson was born in Birmingham, England, and grew up in the English countryside. His family moved to South London when he was in his early teens. He first came to America as part of a student exchange program in engineering at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. At the program, his artistic abilities were encouraged, and two years later he returned to England to concentrate on landscape painting. His work was successfully exhibited at the White Lane Gallery, Plymouth, England. Later, Lawson returned to the United States, and soon became part of an underground art culture in New Orleans that included working in tattoo, T-shirt and mural designs. Lawson also became known for his unique drawing style and creations using discarded Mardi Gras beads. The items he has covered with intricate bead work include mannequins, pianos, and drums, as well as a fifty-three-foot-long bar top at the Audubon Hotel. Some of the pieces focus on jazz musicians and historical figures from New Orleans' history.

Hurricane Katrina

Lawson's collection of beads were among the few possessions that survived the destruction of Hurricane Katrina (August 2005). He and his wife, Aimee (who is the cousin of author Andre Dubus III), lost their home and his adjacent art studio to the storm. Before Hurricane Katrina, Lawson’s primary medium were his trade mark Mardi Gras beads, picked up from the streets on mornings after the parades and parties New Orleans is famous for. After Hurricane Katrina, he began creating series of palimpsests, using drawings, sketches, photographs and personal documents collected over 25 years, which he had salvaged from his flood damaged New Orleans home and studio, and began recycling them combining xerox, ink and the encaustic process. Buildings damaged by flood waters post-Hurricane Katrina became the subject of a series of architectural photographs, including the Western Union Building and the Maritime Building in New Orleans.

Mardi Gras Made in China

In 2004 John K. Lawson was featured in the documentary film, which follows the story of Mardi Gras beads from their manufacture in factories in China, to their use at Mardi Gras parades, and their transition in the hands of John K. Lawson into fine art pieces hanging in New York galleries. The LA Times wrote of the movie: "Cleverly juxtaposes the apex of American bacchanalian excess with the sweatshop-like conditions that facilitate the fun." The film earned 21 national and international awards, including a nomination for the Grand Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and was a New York Time's "Critics Pick" by Stephen Holden.

Works

• "Garden of Unearthly Delights," 53-foot-long bar-top installation for the Audubon Hotel, New Orleans.
• "Give Peace a Chance" Mural on Magazine Street, in memory of Ivory Sims, 11, who was killed during a drive-by shooting, 1993. (Mural destroyed during Hurricane Katrina)
• "High on Life," American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore Maryland
• Hurrican Hotel (novel).
• "Just Another Day on the Floating Clock" Mural. The Bayou Bar, Baton Rouge Louisiana 1982 (Destroyed during Hurricane Katrina)
• "The Temptation Piano" on permanent exhibit at the American Visionary Arts Museum, Baltimore, Maryland.
• The Brennan "Jazz" Piano, at the Flambeaux Restaurant, Disneyland, California.

Exhibitions

• NOW AND THEN Honfleur gallery, Washington D.C. March—April 2010.
• FRAGILE Honfleur gallery, Washington D.C. November 15, 2008 – January 2, 2009.
• INTERSECTIONS The American Poetry Museum - Washington, DC. November 2008.
• TEMPEST Santa Fe Art Institute, August 2007. Funded by an Emergency Relief Grant sponsored by the Pollack-Krasner Foundation.

External links

• www.lawsonworks.com