John LeKay

John LeKay (born 1 June 1961) is an English conceptual and installation artist and sculptor, who lives in New York City. In 1993, he began to make skulls covered in crystal: he has accused Damien Hirst of copying this and other ideas. He publishes the web site heyokamagazine.

Life and work

John LeKay was born in London. He was educated at Isleworth Polytechnic, London in 1977. He moved to New York in 1991. Instead of higher art education, he travelled with a circus and worked at Pinewood Studios.

1983–1986, he created an installation, Non Terrestrial Black Bird of Paradise, consisting of a taxidermied crow, chairs, chicken wire, glasses and photos: this was exhibited at the Bronx Museum. thumb Inspired by the early work of Francis Bacon and the painting of a slaughtered ox by Rembrandt, he made a "meat series", 1986–87. An example of this is the 1987 sculpture, This is my Body this is my Blood, consisting of a cut open decapitated lamb carcass, nailed to a piece of plywood. Another sculpture subtitled Vanishing Object, was a cross made out of closet freshener, which slowly evaporated in a tall acrylic glass vitrine. the name referring to a Nostradamus quatrain about men with pig snouts in flying machines and standing for "Politically Incorrect Geniuses".

In 1991, he exhibited in the group show The Interrupted Life at the New Museum of Contemporary Life, New York, and showed his Cryonic Suspension Dewar, a container filled with liquid nitrogen at -196 °C, 320 °F below zero, a temperature which prevents biochemical and metabolic activity. the latter piece representing shamanism.

In April 1993, with a reputation as a "participant in a half-dozen trendy group shows" and a "strung out enfant terrible", He observed "a certain formal elegance", but also that "LeKay attempts to shock, revelling in his obvious poor taste," an example of the latter being Zipperdeedudazipperdeeday, 1991-92, which appropriated the voices of homeless black men. They were both represented by the Cohen Gallery.

In 1993, inspired by Mayan skulls, he made 25 skulls, using crystal to create a glistening effect: "When the light hits it, it looks as if it is covered in diamonds." The display consisted of an angel and fourteen demons, each displayed in their own Plexiglas vitrine. The figures were made from paradichlorobenzene and this necessitated LeKay wearing a gas mask while he worked on the sculptures. and similar work was in The Monster Show in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami.

In 1996, LeKay exhibited with the Kenny Schachter at the third annual Gramercy International Contemporary Art Fair. Described as "tall and rather forbidding", he arrived with a large carton containing a head made from paradichlorobenzene.

In January 2005, LeKay started the heyokamagazine.com website, which campaigns against native American poverty and environmental pollution as well as featuring interviews with, amongst others, Buffy Saint Marie, Sarita Choudhury and Alex James.

Damien Hirst accusations

In 2007, when Damien Hirst exhibited For the Love of God, a platinum cast of a skull with the surface covered with diamonds, LeKay accused Hirst of copying his idea: "When I heard he was doing it, I felt like I was being punched in the gut. When I saw the image online, I felt that a part of me was in the piece. I was a bit shocked." LeKay has stated that he was a friend of Damien Hirst between 1992 and 1994 and shared a mixed show with him. LeKay also stated that Hirst had got other ideas for his work from a "marked-up duplicate copy" of a Carolina Biological Supply Company catalogue, which he had given him. One example was Hirst's work Mother and Child, Divided – a cow and calf cut in half and placed in formaldehyde: "You have no idea how much he got from this catalogue. The Cow Divided is on page 647 – it is a model of a cow divided down the centre, like his piece." Lekay said, "I would like Damien to acknowledge that 'John really did inspire the skull and influenced my work a lot.'"

Solo shows

1995 University at Buffalo Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY 1994 Kenny Schachter, New York 1993 Cohen Gallery, New York 1991 Randy Alexander Gallery, New York 1990 Paula Allen Gallery, New York

Group shows have included Modern Museum of Art, Lisbon, Cabinet Gallery, London and Metropol Gallery, Austria.

Notes and references