The following pieces were written for a forward to a book produced by a group of John's friends, which featured pictures of many of his paintings, along with other writings and photographs.
John was born in 1948 and grew up in Burnley, Lancashire with his father John Snr (Jack), a plumber at the local brewery, mother Ellen (Nellie), and older sister Ann. He left Burnley Grammar School in 1966 and moved to Reading, where he studied for a degree in fine arts at the university. After graduating in 1969, he moved to London for a post-graduate course at Chelsea Art College.
Around 1970 John rented a room in a large town house in Battersea that was to become his home and studio for the next 18 years. As housemates left, he gradually took on other rooms and by the late 70s he was renting the whole building. It filled with paintings, scultures, original furniture, curious objects of all sorts. Murals were painted on doors and cupboards. Many friends visited.
In 1974, John met Eric Conde, a Uraguayan emigre, ballet dancer, painter and sculpter. Theirs became a partnership in every sense; they lived together in the Battersea house, developed together as artists, shared a passion for ballet and opera, and became business partners.
Except for the occasional commission, John's work as an artist made him no money. For much of his time in Battersea, he worked selling antiques just over the river, on the Kings Road in Chelsea. At some point, he and Eric began to restore antique pieces. Drawing on their skills as artists, together with self-taught tradecraft, they worked on many items; funiture, lamps and ornaments of all sorts.
In 1988, the house in Battersea was sold, and John and Eric moved 3 miles south to a flat in Balham. The upheaval of leaving their long-term home, however, was soon overshadowed by the worsening state of Eric's health and in 1991 he died, a victim of the AIDS epidemic.
Grieving, and uncertain of his own future, John made the decision to leave Balham. In 1992, he found a new home in Clapham's Old Town area, where he turned a former post office into an antiques shop, and lived and painted in the house above. Business was slow, and John soon tired of being a shopkeeper, so the shop space eventually became part of his studio.
John was diagnosed with HIV in 1993[?]. At this time, treatment of the condition was in its infancy. With a complex, ever-changing and sometimes experimental regime of drugs his doctors were able to keep the infection at bay. But there were still periodic bouts of illness and hospitalisation, and there must have been little certainty about what the future would hold.
John painted prodigiously during his time in Clapham, producing many powerful pieces that clearly reflected the difficult issues confronting him. There was a great sequence of self-portraits, and many versions of the views from his windows, at times fighting to be seen behind invading viral blobs or consumed by imaginary fire.
John's companions during this period and throughout his entire adult life were his cats. There were six of them in all, plus one or two that adopted him along the way. He was devoted to them, would happily talk for hours about their antics, painted them many times over the years and photographed them endlessly.
In 1998 John left Clapham, moving south again to a flat in Streatham. The relocation offered one major advantage: a garden. He immediately set about making the most of this. A patch of scruffy lawn with a couple of small trees was rapidly transformed into a jungle of exotic foliage and vibrant flowers. A large shed was erected, which became his studio. Since his days in Battersea, garden views had featured heavily John's paintings. Having been starved of this in Clapham, he returned to it with a vengance, painting little else for the next 15 years or so.
Even as he celebrated his garden through his pictures, John's output waned during the 2000s, ceasing altogether for periods. By 2014, though his subjects were still clearly the garden or (perhaps imaginary) woodland scenes, there had been a shift in style to something more abstract; the muted pallette replaced by bolder colours, overlaid with distinctive silhouetted trees. Then, around 2017, a further shift occurred, to almost completely abstract (or obscure) material and brighter, even bolder, colours. He started to work with renewed energy, producing 60 or more of these paintings during the final few years of his life.
Late in 2020, John was admitted to hospital suffering from a combination of serious conditions and in January 2021 he died. He was 72. In the end, he survived Eric by 30 years, almost to the day. He left a flat full of some 300 paintings, plus sculptures, furniture, a huge collection of books and memorabilia, and Sam - the last of his cats.
Martin Harvey
John was born in Burnley, Lancashire on January 30th 1948. He was brought up in Burnley with his parents and an older sister. His Father was a plumber and his Mother had worked in a cotton weaving factory before their marriage. His sister left the family home to go to university in 1956 when John was only 8 years old. They lived in an attractive part of Burnley on the edge of countryside, providing some lovely walks, a particular favourite being down to the River Calder. From their house was a splendid view over to Pendle Hill, an area famous for the Pendle Witches. Many books have been written about the history of the witch trials and it has become quite a tourist attraction.
While at Junior school John showed an interest in ballet and joined a local class and thoroughly enjoyed several years there. He remained very fond of ballet for most of his life.
Next he went to piano lessons, rather reluctantly, for a few years.
In his teens he was keen on gymnastics and tennis. He became a member of a local Burnley tennis club, an interest which continued for many years.
He attended Burnley Boys Grammar School and it was here that his interest in art developed.
He studied Fine Arts at Reading University where he was awarded a first class honours degree.
After this he studied at Chelsea College of Arts and moved to live in Battersea, London.
His sister and brother in law with John’s two nephews and two nieces loved to visit him and see the pictures he was painting and his other artistic creations. It was quite an exciting visit for the children to see the London sights -quite a change from living on a smallholding in the Lake District.
Ann Harvey