John Latham 1921 - 2006: Selected Biography
1921 ...............Born Northern Rhodesia
1934-39 ..........Boarder at Winchester College, England
1940-46 ..........Serves in Royal Navy
1946 ...............Attends art classes at Regent Street Polytechnic, London
1947-50 ..........Studies Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art, London
1951 ...............Marries Barbara Steveni. They live in Fleet, Hampshire
1954 ...............Meets Professor Clive Gregory and Anita Kohsen, is an honorary member of the institute for the study of Mental Images (ISMI)
1955 ...............First Solo Exhibition at Obelisk Gallery, London
1958 ...............Creates 'The Burial of Count Orgaz' and first book reliefs. Returns to London
1960 ...............Makes the films 'Unclassified Material' and 'Unedited Material from the Star'
1961 ...............Makes the film 'Talk'. Visits New York and Washington. Exhibits in 'The Art of Assemblage', MoMA New York. Makes the painting ........................'Full Stop'
1962 ...............Second visit to New York
1963 ...............Exhibits at Bear Lane Gallery, Oxford; Kasmin Gallery, Oxford and Alan Gallery, New York
1964 ...............First burns book sculptures: 'Skoob Tower Ceremonies' in Oxfordshire, Edinburgh and London. Exhibits in 'Painting and Sculpture of ........................a decade', Tate Gallery
1965 ...............Begins teaching part-time at St Martin's School of Art
1966 ...............Co-founds Artist Placement Group with Barbara Steveni and others. Stages 'Still and Chew' event in London in which a library copy ........................of Clement Greenberg's book 'Art and Culture' is chewed by Latham and others. Exhibits in 'The Object Transformed', MoMA NY
1967 ...............Library at St Martin's demand return of copy of 'Art and Culture'. Latham is dismissed from his teaching post. Creates 'Art and ........................Culture' (later acquired by MoMA New York)
1968 ...............Exhibits 'Roller Blind Paintings' at Arts Lab, Drury Lane, London
1970 ...............Injured in Car Crash. Commences hospital placement. Lisson Gallery exhibition: 'John Latham: Least Event, One Second Drawings, ........................Blind Work, 24 Second Painting'
1971 ...............Makes Film 'Erth'
1972 ...............Makes 'Time Base Roller'
1973 ...............Erects 'Big Breather' at Imperial College, London
1975-76 ..........Placement in Scottish Office, Edinburgh, Exhibition at Kunsthalle, Dusseldorf
1976 ...............Publishes 'Time-Base and Determination' in 'Events' (Tate Gallery)
1977 ...............Public discussion with Joseph Beuys at Documenta 6, Kassel
1983 ...............Constructs major glass sculpture 'Story of the RIO'
1984 ...............Publishes 'Report of a surveyor' Exhibition at Van Abbe Museum, Eindhoven
1986 ...............Lectures at Tate Gallery
1987 ...............Lectures at Jan Van Eyck Academy, Eindhoven
1988 ...............Submits paper to 10 Downing Street
1989 ...............Artist Placement Group becomes O + I (Organisation and Imagination)
1991 ...............Exhibition at MoMA Oxford: John Latham: Art after Physics
1992 ...............Submits open letter to Prime Minister
1995 ...............One-man display at Tate Gallery. 'The Attorney Project: John Latham, artist vs. Physics, Philosophy, Theology', Edinburgh College of ........................Art
1996 ...............One-man exhibition at Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh
1997 ...............Exhibits in 'Pictura Britannica' group exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
1998 ...............Exhibits in 'Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object, 1949-79', Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
2000 ...............'Unclassified Material' 1959, 'Unedited Material from the Star' 1960: Event followed by discussion with Latham, Nicholas Tressilian ........................and Sarat Maharaj, The Lux Cinema, London
2002 ...............'History Lesson' Lecture by Latham at The Former Royal Medical College, London. Exhibits in 'Blast to Freeze, British Art in the ........................Twentieth Century', Kunstsmuseum, Wolfsburg, Germany
2004-5 ............'The Body Event': sound event, extrusion through multiple sound sources, derived from speech, utterance, paralanguage and the ........................artist's environment, recorded and processed at The Institute of Signals and Noises. John Latham: Filmed extracts from an extended ........................conversation with Marianne Brouwer. Exhibition at Lisson Gallery, 'God is Great'
2005 ...............Exhibition at Instituto Nautico, Venice: 'God is Great: Douglas Gordon, Anish Kapoor, John Latham'. Exhibition at Tate Britain: 'John ........................Latham in Focus'
2006 ...............Exhibition at John Hansard Gallery: 'John Latham, Time Base and the Universe'. Exhibition at PS1 Gallery, New York: 'John Latham, ........................Time Base and the Universe'
above image by Marc Cowan, site design by Letty Fox: letty@clandestinecultivations.com