John Atherton

Originally from Scotland John Atherton studied Graphic Design at The Glasgow School of Art. He lived and worked in London as a screen printer, designer, curator and assistant to international artists before attending The Royal College of Art from 2017 till 2019. After graduating he was selected for both the Clifford Chance Purchase Prize, and Travers Smith, CSR Art Programme.

One of his artistic practice is based on a chance discovery of a series of Swedish school yearbook and the portraits found in each.

‘It’s a seemingly arbitrary starting point for my work, a quite unpredictable and fortuitous beginning. The yearbook symbolises a rite of passage, a point of departure, it captures a moment of infinite possibility, the imminent journey to an unknown destination. My work is screen printed onto different papers and collaged together but I think of myself as a painter, the piles of paper, my colour palette.

These layers of materials and imagery embody a vast hinterland of narratives and creative ideas that echo back to the yearbook. The creative journey and the personal narratives are encoded in the stratification of materials with only the most recent layer fully visible.’

JOHN ATHERTON | NORDIC ART AGENCY ARCHIVE

John Atherton was represented and exhibited by Nordic Art Agency as part of its international programme of contemporary artists. Their work and exhibition history are presented here as part of the Nordic Art Agency Archive, documenting two decades of artists, exhibitions and collaborations developed by founder Juliet Rees Davies.

Rees Davies Art Advisory continues to work across this established international network of artists, alongside sourcing new work through galleries, studios and the wider contemporary art market.