| 20HOXTONSQUARE |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
John MF Casey studied as a fine artist, left after a year and a half, and then studied as an illustrator at the now
defunct KIAD.
Since graduating he has: written a number of structured poems, written two plays, taken part in various London
exhibitions, curated two shows himself, played violin in experimental folk band “Pariah”, illustrated a gothic comedy
novella by emerging writer Tom Smith, illustrated a number of Baudelaire poems, illustrated for a number of small
magazines, and illustrated for his own pleasure.
His work primarily deals with the expression of mental anguish and autobiographical subject matter through the
seemingly detached illustration of literary subjects, philosophical ideas and the crueller passages of modern
history
.
He has recently published his debut artist’s book: Symphonie Fantastique, and is currently working on his follow
up, to be entitled The Last Testament.
Critical (by Professor Voynitsky):
This is an assessment of John M F Casey’s few satanic jaunts into the gallery world, forcing his perverse and
archaic visions upon a carefree and modern public, yet also his artist's book, Symphonie Fantastique, and his
various writings must be regarded as part of the whole practice.
The paintings: black paint scratched away by nails and knives to reveal the colour of the wood beneath, depicting
grisly executions, tumultuous orgies, or sombre woodlands, the gothic end of Expressionism. Although grim, the
works obviously display some clever draughtsmanship, and they are generally revealed to be illustrations for
poetic or philosophic subjects. His main guise as an illustrator is significant, and indeed he was educated as one;
for the illustrator is subservient to the originator (the writer or commissioner) and thus, like Himmler in his rise to
power, gains initiative through underestimation. In these works there is a great confusion of authorship, and a
sense that literary reference, autobiography and pure fabrication are intermingled through out.
Symphonie Fantastique and the various pieces of poetry, plays etc, are full of this cult of impersonality, and fully
facilitate the paintings in their disturbing nihilism and duplicity. In a world where everything becomes allegory and
'I' is someone else, art becomes a savage vortex in which all human laws and truths are devoured. Not only is
depravity the equal of virtue, but anything is the allegory of everything in this manic delirium of fractured
references, multi-paradox, simulacrum and illusion.
Is this esoteric and fatalistic vision a lofty parable of eternal chaos?
Or is this mystification process, though consistent, some what defensive?
Perhaps if you scratch away all the enigmas, like he scratches away the black paint, you are left with just a normal
piece of wood? Is he a hack pretending to be an artist pretending to be a scholar? Or is the hack pretence as
well?
At the end of Casey's epic poem "The Last Testament", the protagonist lies crippled and ancient at the feet of his
apostle (supposedly Casey himself), and upon his dying breath proclaims with youthful vigour: "Witness my
Affirmation!"
It sometimes seems that there is some inexplicable, yet benign, subtext within this body of work, beneath the
endless torrent of carnage and past the fragile coalition of falsehoods, there lurks a vague aspect of joy and
poetic truth.
Yet the excess of miserablism, pornographic imagery and assorted Satanica still convey a distasteful propensity
for the morbid. But is this a carefully considered artistic decision? An assumed disposition reflective of the human
condition? Or just a juvenile dark streak?
How can the truth be found amongst such ambiguity? It is infintily elusive. This appears to be the core concept of
his work.
Symphonie Fantastique Blurb:
Symphonie Fantastique is an illustrated poem inspired primarily by the piece of music by Berlioz of the same
name.
Berlioz intended his symphony to be a narrative, with the characters and events represented by recurring musical
themes, and the changing tone of the composition as the story develops into darker and more tragic pastures.
Interested by how the prominent themes of romanticism, horror, drug abuse and the infernal provided by Berlioz
could apply to his own experience of life, John decided to compose a poem in the terza rima model, famously used
by Dante in the Divine Comedy. Its unceasing rhyming scheme insidiously draws the reader forward in momentous
narrative.
The images appear to draw from a later era than the verse, being reminiscent of the German Expressionists.
They were achieved by scratching away a layer of paint with scribes, knives and nails, to reveal the wood
beneath. The images are carefully composed in order to reflect the rhythm and mood of the verse, developing
from restrained and simplistic, to sombre and ultimately to grotesque and vulgar, achieving a visual equivalent of
Berlioz’ music and how it ingeniously portrayed the narrative.
The book has two main purposes, firstly it is an allegory about the nature of a certain type of tragic or infernal
love and secondly it is a statement about a certain type of art and poetry that goes back through the ages,
though centred mostly on the romanticism of the 19c. It has the raw emotion of expressionism but with all the
decadent, grotesque and apocalyptic themes of earlier periods, and it is a manifesto concerning the appearance
of horror and tragedy in art through out history and how it can be of importance now. It achieves in illustrated
books what the Chatman brothers have done in fine art, to make people reconsider these hellish themes and take
them more seriously as a sophisticated goldmine of poetic imagery.
The Symphonie Fantastique is available as a Limited Edition of 150 hand bound hardbacks, litho printed at the
Curwen Studio.
defunct KIAD.
Since graduating he has: written a number of structured poems, written two plays, taken part in various London
exhibitions, curated two shows himself, played violin in experimental folk band “Pariah”, illustrated a gothic comedy
novella by emerging writer Tom Smith, illustrated a number of Baudelaire poems, illustrated for a number of small
magazines, and illustrated for his own pleasure.
His work primarily deals with the expression of mental anguish and autobiographical subject matter through the
seemingly detached illustration of literary subjects, philosophical ideas and the crueller passages of modern
history
.
He has recently published his debut artist’s book: Symphonie Fantastique, and is currently working on his follow
up, to be entitled The Last Testament.
Critical (by Professor Voynitsky):
This is an assessment of John M F Casey’s few satanic jaunts into the gallery world, forcing his perverse and
archaic visions upon a carefree and modern public, yet also his artist's book, Symphonie Fantastique, and his
various writings must be regarded as part of the whole practice.
The paintings: black paint scratched away by nails and knives to reveal the colour of the wood beneath, depicting
grisly executions, tumultuous orgies, or sombre woodlands, the gothic end of Expressionism. Although grim, the
works obviously display some clever draughtsmanship, and they are generally revealed to be illustrations for
poetic or philosophic subjects. His main guise as an illustrator is significant, and indeed he was educated as one;
for the illustrator is subservient to the originator (the writer or commissioner) and thus, like Himmler in his rise to
power, gains initiative through underestimation. In these works there is a great confusion of authorship, and a
sense that literary reference, autobiography and pure fabrication are intermingled through out.
Symphonie Fantastique and the various pieces of poetry, plays etc, are full of this cult of impersonality, and fully
facilitate the paintings in their disturbing nihilism and duplicity. In a world where everything becomes allegory and
'I' is someone else, art becomes a savage vortex in which all human laws and truths are devoured. Not only is
depravity the equal of virtue, but anything is the allegory of everything in this manic delirium of fractured
references, multi-paradox, simulacrum and illusion.
Is this esoteric and fatalistic vision a lofty parable of eternal chaos?
Or is this mystification process, though consistent, some what defensive?
Perhaps if you scratch away all the enigmas, like he scratches away the black paint, you are left with just a normal
piece of wood? Is he a hack pretending to be an artist pretending to be a scholar? Or is the hack pretence as
well?
At the end of Casey's epic poem "The Last Testament", the protagonist lies crippled and ancient at the feet of his
apostle (supposedly Casey himself), and upon his dying breath proclaims with youthful vigour: "Witness my
Affirmation!"
It sometimes seems that there is some inexplicable, yet benign, subtext within this body of work, beneath the
endless torrent of carnage and past the fragile coalition of falsehoods, there lurks a vague aspect of joy and
poetic truth.
Yet the excess of miserablism, pornographic imagery and assorted Satanica still convey a distasteful propensity
for the morbid. But is this a carefully considered artistic decision? An assumed disposition reflective of the human
condition? Or just a juvenile dark streak?
How can the truth be found amongst such ambiguity? It is infintily elusive. This appears to be the core concept of
his work.
Symphonie Fantastique Blurb:
Symphonie Fantastique is an illustrated poem inspired primarily by the piece of music by Berlioz of the same
name.
Berlioz intended his symphony to be a narrative, with the characters and events represented by recurring musical
themes, and the changing tone of the composition as the story develops into darker and more tragic pastures.
Interested by how the prominent themes of romanticism, horror, drug abuse and the infernal provided by Berlioz
could apply to his own experience of life, John decided to compose a poem in the terza rima model, famously used
by Dante in the Divine Comedy. Its unceasing rhyming scheme insidiously draws the reader forward in momentous
narrative.
The images appear to draw from a later era than the verse, being reminiscent of the German Expressionists.
They were achieved by scratching away a layer of paint with scribes, knives and nails, to reveal the wood
beneath. The images are carefully composed in order to reflect the rhythm and mood of the verse, developing
from restrained and simplistic, to sombre and ultimately to grotesque and vulgar, achieving a visual equivalent of
Berlioz’ music and how it ingeniously portrayed the narrative.
The book has two main purposes, firstly it is an allegory about the nature of a certain type of tragic or infernal
love and secondly it is a statement about a certain type of art and poetry that goes back through the ages,
though centred mostly on the romanticism of the 19c. It has the raw emotion of expressionism but with all the
decadent, grotesque and apocalyptic themes of earlier periods, and it is a manifesto concerning the appearance
of horror and tragedy in art through out history and how it can be of importance now. It achieves in illustrated
books what the Chatman brothers have done in fine art, to make people reconsider these hellish themes and take
them more seriously as a sophisticated goldmine of poetic imagery.
The Symphonie Fantastique is available as a Limited Edition of 150 hand bound hardbacks, litho printed at the
Curwen Studio.