John Stark

D’APRÈS MANET opens tonight’ May 1st @galeriemichaelhaas Berlin and runs until the 19th June. Wonderful hospitality for the artists party last night and hanging in great company. My Painting ‘Ghoul at a Bar (After Manet)’ amongst some others I managed to snap … if in Berlin do go see @ Kunst Lager Haas and Galerie Haas. #berlinexhibition #aftermanet #manet

Under the title D’après Manet, Galerie Michael Haas has brought together works by 51 international artists, the vast majority of which were created specifically for the exhibition. They pay tribute to the legacy of French painter Édouard Manet (1832–1883) by quoting or parodying his paintings and drawings, adapting them in their own distinctive styles and opening up entirely new perspectives for us, the viewers. Manets work marked the most profound and perhaps most radical transformation in painting since the French Revolution. He brought about a shift in 19th-century art history that was as unexpected as it was sudden, and paved the way for modernism. A catalogue accompanying the exhibition will be published featuring an essay by Fabrice Hergott. Artists: JORDI ALCARAZ, MARTIN ASSIG, ANDREA BAUMGARTL, NICOLE BIANCHET, PETER BÖHNISCH, PETER BÖMMELS, ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, CHRISTOPHER COLM-MORRIN, MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN, TATJANA DOLL, SLAWOMIR ELSNER, TIM ERNST, MARIANNA GARTNER, PEP GIRBENT, JULIUS GRÜNEWALD, BEATE GÜNTHER, TOBIAS HAUSER, AXEL HEIL, ALMUT HEISE, GREGOR HILDEBRANDT, HIPKISS, MARCEL HÜPPAUFF, JOHN ISAACS, MARTHA JUNGWIRTH, MICHAEL KIRKHAM, ASTRID KLEIN, GUSTAV KLUGE, BERND KOBERLING, DIRK LANGE, PHILIP LOERSCH, MARKUS LÜPERTZ, HARUKO MAEDA, JAKOB MATTNER, JONATHAN MEESE, MONIKA MICHALKO, DAVID NICHOLSON, TANJA NITTKA, JOSÉ NOGUERO, ALBERT OEHLEN, LYDIA PETTIT, REINHARD PODS, DANIEL RICHTER, GERD ROHLING, GINO RUBERT, MATTHIAS SCHAUFLER, DENNIS SCHOLL, JOHN STARK, CRAIG STEWART, STRAWALDE, DIMITRIS TZAMOURANIS, RENÉ WIRTHS Opening date: 1 May 2026 6:00 pm 2 May 2026 - 19 June 2026 Galerie Michael Haas and Kunst Lager Haas

‘The Trouble with Being Born’ - 55 x 75 cm, oil on wood, 2025 #wunderkammer #mementomori #naturemorte #johnstark

Over the moon to be included in this beautiful publication on the occasion of D’après Manet, @ Galerie Michael Haas. The Catalogue includes the exhibition essay ‘Manet as a Role Model’ by Fabrice Hergott. [email protected] to get your copy. The exhibition runs until 19th June, Berlin Artists: JORDI ALCARAZ, MARTIN ASSIG, ANDREA BAUMGARTL, NICOLE BIANCHET, PETER BÖHNISCH, PETER BÖMMELS, ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN, TATJANA DOLL, SLAWOMIR ELSNER, TIM ERNST, MARIANNA GARTNER, PEP GIRBENT, JULIUS GRÜNEWALD, BEATE GÜNTHER, TOBIAS HAUSER, AXEL HEIL, ALMUT HEISE, GREGOR HILDEBRANDT, HIPKISS, MARCEL HÜPPAUFF, JOHN ISAACS, MARTHA JUNGWIRTH, MICHAEL KIRKHAM, ASTRID KLEIN, GUSTAV KLUGE, BERND KOBERLING, DIRK LANGE, PHILIP LOERSCH, MARKUS LÜPERTZ, HARUKO MAEDA, JAKOB MATTNER, JONATHAN MEESE, MONIKA MICHALKO, CHRISTOPHER COLM MORRIN, DAVID NICHOLSON, TANJA NITTKA, JOSÉ NOGUERO, ALBERT OEHLEN, LYDIA PETTIT, REINHARD PODS, DANIEL RICHTER, GERD ROHLING, GINO RUBERT, MATTHIAS SCHAUFLER, DENNIS SCHOLL, JOHN STARK, CRAIG STEWART, STRAWALDE, DIMITRIS TZAMOURANIS, RENÉ WIRTHS

Time to bring out the Ghoul… The ghoul cries blood for the people The ghoul’s smile covers its broken heart The ghoul is born from all your fears and regrets The ghoul shines bright in the truthful light ✨ ‘The Ghoul’ - 40 x 30 cm, oil on wood, #ghoulishtimes #dissolutionment #faciststate

‘The Time that Remains’ - 28 x 36 cm, oil on wood, 2026 #newpainting #naturemorte #johnstark

‘Death Chillin in the Woods’ - India ink and water colour on paper, 2026 I don’t do much drawing, I mean I do but it’s always covered up by the painting, but Marianne Walker invited me to be in this drawing exhibition with lots of cool artists, all part of the ‘Where do We Go from Here’ festival. details below👇 PV Friday 8th May 6-8pm Open 9th and 10th May 11am – 6pm and 16th and 17th May 11am – 6pm In the Lutyens Room: @bellhousedulwich Aflame: the democracy of drawing, curated by Marianne Walker @mariannelwalker 👇 “After being invited to curate the beautiful Lutyens Room at Bell House I decided to focus specifically on drawing in response to the overarching theme of the Artist’s Open House “Where do we go from here?”. Drawing remains one of the most democratic of all artistic mediums. It is accessible and affordable as well as being highly agentive, allowing the maker to express what captures their mind and eye through the metabolic processes of the heart and hand. Drawing also allows for a wealth of technical expression from the studiousness of a representational pencil drawing to dream like and luminous manifestations of the imaginative realms. Let’s not forget the dynamism of the black inked mark, the subtle smokey tones of graphite, the joie de vivre of colour pencils. Here, drawing is expressed across two and three dimensions as a manifestation of deep time, a sculptural tool and an act of enlivening, as well as an apotropaic prayer and an expression of sexy love. So, in answer to the question “Where do we go from here?” Defiantly, we draw.” - Marianne Walker Aileen Harvey @aileenharvey Arianna Tinulla Milesi @ariannatinullamilesi Chantal Powell @chantalpowell Chloe Briggs @drawingisfree_org Hans de Wit @hans_de_wit courtesy of @johnmarchantgallery John Stark @johnstark_studio Kethevane Cellard @kethevanecellard Marianne Walker @mariannelwalker Mat Chivers @matchivers Min Angel @minangelartist Roland Hicks @rolandhicks Russell Herron @russell_herron_art Sarah Praill @sarahpraill Theo Michael @theo__michael Zoe Dorelli @zoedorelli @artistsopenhse

One of several paintings I’ll be exhibiting in ‘D’ Apres Manet’ @galeriemichaelhaas opening 1st of May for Berlin Gallery weekend…P.V 6 pm Image 1: The Lemon (After Manet) - oil on copper, 20 x 30 cm 2025 Image 2 : Le Citron, by Edouard Manet - oil on canvas 14 x 22 cm ( Installation @villa_medici ) Under the title D’après Manet, Galerie Michael Haas has brought together works by 51 international artists, the vast majority of which were created specifically for the exhibition. They pay tribute to the legacy of French painter Édouard Manet (1832–1883) by quoting or parodying his paintings and drawings, adapting them in their own distinctive styles and opening up entirely new perspectives for us, the viewers. Manets work marked the most profound and perhaps most radical transformation in painting since the French Revolution. He brought about a shift in 19th-century art history that was as unexpected as it was sudden, and paved the way for modernism. Artists: JORDI ALCARAZ, MARTIN ASSIG, ANDREA BAUMGARTL, NICOLE BIANCHET, PETER BÖHNISCH, PETER BÖMMELS, ABRAHAM DAVID CHRISTIAN, CHRISTOPHER COLM-MORRIN, MICHAEL CRAIG-MARTIN, TATJANA DOLL, SLAWOMIR ELSNER, TIM ERNST, MARIANNA GARTNER, PEP GIRBENT, JULIUS GRÜNEWALD, BEATE GÜNTHER, TOBIAS HAUSER, AXEL HEIL, ALMUT HEISE, GREGOR HILDEBRANDT, HIPKISS, MARCEL HÜPPAUFF, JOHN ISAACS, MARTHA JUNGWIRTH, MICHAEL KIRKHAM, ASTRID KLEIN, GUSTAV KLUGE, BERND KOBERLING, DIRK LANGE, PHILIP LOERSCH, MARKUS LÜPERTZ, HARUKO MAEDA, JAKOB MATTNER, JONATHAN MEESE, MONIKA MICHALKO, DAVID NICHOLSON, TANJA NITTKA, JOSÉ NOGUERO, ALBERT OEHLEN, LYDIA PETTIT, REINHARD PODS, DANIEL RICHTER, GERD ROHLING, GINO RUBERT, MATTHIAS SCHAUFLER, DENNIS SCHOLL, JOHN STARK, CRAIG STEWART, STRAWALDE, DIMITRIS TZAMOURANIS, RENÉ WIRTHS #aftermanet #johnstark #lemon

More cheese is never a bad thing… this is the prequel to a painting I made previously using the same arrangement where the mice invaded the space. That painting was titled ‘The Afterparty’ … I remember thinking at the time what a shame, it’s such a lovely arrangement, how that plate acts like a kind of black mirror, opening up the pictorial space and inducing a sense of vertigo. Cheese vertigo with a side of muscat grapes without the mice. ‘Cheese plate with Muscat grapes’ - 30 x 40 cm, oil on wood, 2024 #cheesepainting #muscatgrapes #naturemorte

Nobody wants to be a Gooseberry, and do they have anything to do with Geese 🪿? Well in fact they do; In the olden days ‘playing the goose’ was a bit like how we say now ‘acting the fool’. We’ve all been there… Gooseberry Fool, also a popular desert dating back to Tudor times… Originally ‘being the gooseberry’ referred to a useful chaperone who facilitated a romantic relationship, the chaperone would pick gooseberries, often in a garden whilst trying not to look at the couple while they got it on (like Marvin Gaye). In the 19th century the term shifted to mean an unwanted, awkward or uninvited third person getting in the way, much like a third wheel. Gooseberries - oil on copper, 18 x 23 cm, 2026 #gooseberry #thirdwheeling #naturemorte

Sometimes it’s nice to revisit the classics , the opening quote below from @juanbolivarstudio2112 ‘s text, ‘The Shepherd’ for my Apiculture show, 2011 - “See, now I’m thinking: maybe it means you’re the evil man. And I’m the righteous man. And Mr. 9mm here... he’s the shepherd protecting my righteous ass in the valley of darkness. Or it could mean you’re the righteous man and I’m the shepherd and it’s the world that’s evil and selfish. And I’d like that. But that shit ain’t the truth. The truth is you’re the weak. And I’m the tyranny of evil men. But I’m tryin’, Ringo. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the shepherd. - Jules Winnfield, Pulp Fiction (1994) #theshepherd #apiculture #johnstark

‘The Light of the Future Casts the Shadows of Tomorrow’ - oil on wood, 30 x 40 cm, 2026 #naturemorte #johnstark