John Elkerr

My passion is exploring strange parallels between our postmodern world and artistic traditions of tribal cultures. I work from a place where the chaos of the twenty-first century dances with hunters on the cave walls of Lascaux. I am drawn to all that is disturbing and exhilarating about the human condition. My sources of inspiration are Picasso, Ernst, early Jackson Pollock, Kandinsky, the German Expressionists and the “restless souls” of Art Brut. My work is a crucible where knowledge, emotion, imagination and instinct are ground into new substance, though instinct always has the final word.

Bachelor’s of Fine Art (BFA), Magna Cum Laude, University of Michigan School of Art and Design, 1986.

Studied under: Al Hinton and John Rush (University of Michigan); Sheldon Iden, Charles McGee, and Ellen Wilt (Eastern Michigan University).

RIVER HOUSE ARTS, Perrysburg, OH
2014 – “Desafinado Detroit,” a group show featuring the work of George Graveldinger, Marie Tapert, Maugre (Maurice Greenia), and John Elkerr. Curated by John Elkerr.
2013 – “Gone Wild” (group show)

ZEITGEIST GALLERY, Detroit, MI
2005 – “Top to Bottom / More Is More” (group show)
2003 – “John Elkerr / Recent Work” (solo exhibit)
2002 – “Not Enough Time,” (solo exhibit)
2001 – “Group Show and Silent Auction”
2001 – “Elkerr and Karl Schneider Show”
1998 – “Friends of Jacques Show” (group show)
1998 – “Second Annual Collective Show” (group show)
1998 – “Elkerr & Roger Hayes Show”
1997 – “The Collective Show”
1991 – Group show

ARTRAIN USA (2004)
Demonstrating artist and exhibition tour guide for a traveling Native American art show in Michigan, Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas.

GALERIE ME’DUANE, Laval, France
2000 – Group show
1990 – Group show

GALERIE HALLE SAINT PIERRE, Paris, France
2000 – Group show
1999 – Group show

GALERIE JACQUES, Ann Arbor, MI
1995---“Accrochage II” (group show)
1994 – “John Elkerr: Paintings and Drawings” (solo exhibit)

ARBOR HOSPICE, Ann Arbor, MI
1993 – “Arbor Hosp...