John Devlin
John Devlin’s symbolic constructions clothe the magic shadows of an ideal in perceptible plastic forms. Their profuse impulse — crafted with a simplicity and devotion that recalls the spirit of a gothic reliquarian — pursues the indeterminate and unknown: a secret mystery that is foreign, if not opposed, to the spirit of everyday life. All natural elements and materials are inadequate to portray this indeterminate essence; no artistic manipulation is capable of articulating fully the demands of the stars. With the lavish voice of antiquity, their form presents not the capacity for true portrayal, but rather a modern (and thus incomplete) crystallization of a creative search. An inescrutable idea is cast by Devlin into stiffened metals — statically centered, deadly geometrical — quivering lines and extravagant symbols, doing them violence, stretching and distorting them unnaturally, until their bare and simple appearance is elevated by the diffuseness, immensity, and splendor of the formations employed. A vigorous order then arrests the artist’s arbitrary fancy; he pits gold against graphite, color against black or white, ornament against figuration, such that no visitor is a character, no universe is the color black, but black and figure become symbols, complements of white and gold, of regular grids and erratic lines, in an evanescent system of repetition. That is what gives some of these pieces the delicate and precious refinement of carved ivories, of hard stones polished to perfection and sharply engraved. The vitality of abstract artworks like this often depends on that tension between freedom and form, the paradox that fierce constraint, or restraint, can allow for the feeling of the greatest liberty to appear. And in fact, the more I see of these ecstatic exemplars of symbolist ornament, the more their bright gilt-silver, their erotic nurturing line mark the rhythms of a graceful dance and pierce the pure lace shroud of repetition and darkness. [*]
— Gabriel Almeida
0. (strip at top of page) John Devlin, Illuminated text, 2020, gold leaf, text, and mixed media on paper, 7.62 × 40.64 cm. Collection the artist
1. John Devlin, Untitled, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
2. John Devlin, design for a house and garden, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Private collection
3. John Devlin, Untitled, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
4. John Devlin, design for a door, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
5. John Devlin, Untitled, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Private collection
6. John Devlin, Untitled, 2019, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 25.4 × 35.56 cm. Collection the artist
7. John Devlin, Untitled, 2019, digital file, dimensions n/a, Collection the artist
8. John Devlin, Untitled, 2019, digital file, dimensions n/a, Collection the artist
9. John Devlin, Untitled, 2019, Mixed media on paper, 25.4 × 35.56 cm. Collection the artist
10. John Devlin, Untitled, 2019, digital file, dimensions n/a, Collection the artist
11. John Devlin, Milky Way, 2017, digital file, dimensions n/a, Collection the artist
12. John Devlin, Untitled, 2017, Mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Private collection
13. John Devlin, Untitled, 2017, Mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
14. John Devlin, Dawn, 2017, digital file, dimensions n/a, Collection the artist
15. John Devlin, The Stranger, 2018, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
16. John Devlin, Tree, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
17. John Devlin, Winter jasmine, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
18. John Devlin, Untitled, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 27.94 × 21.6 cm. Collection the artist
19. John Devlin, Forget-me-nots: a rococo tragedy, 2017, gold leaf and mixed media on paper, 21.6 × 27.94 cm. Collection the artist
John Devlin (b. 1954) is a Nova Scotia, Canada based artist. He was trained to draw whilst studying architecture at Dalhousie University (Halifax) in the 1970s. He produces collages and sketches in a variety of series to capture on paper arcane utopias. Beginning in 1984 as an outsider artist using found paper and Crayola crayons, he has continued to evolve. Presently he produces abstract collages using precious metal leaf to elaborate a mystical vision and retreating alchemical ideal.
He is represented by christian berst art brut in Paris and Henry Boxer Gallery in Richmond, UK. Images of his work can also be found on his Instagram page.
[*] I want to thank Tamas Panitz and Austin Carder for their ideas about Devlin’s art that helped me develop some of the thoughts in this introduction.