John Patrick McKenzie was born in 1962, Philippines. McKenzie moved to the United States with his family in 1964 and joined the Creativity Explored studio in 1989. Text functions as the basis of McKenzie’s practice, and is used for both its visual and scriptural qualities in order to create work that simultaneously serves as visual image and as poetry.

McKenzie’s process is based on a complex and mysterious repetitive sequencing of calligraphy that methodically adds layers of nuance to his chosen subjects, which are most often people and objects from pop culture, current events, and his immediate surroundings. Swirling, multiangled, and disorienting, the placement of his language comments on the contradictory, sometimes overwhelming, nature of media attention and celebrity.  McKenzie’s original script and arrangement of text are tactile examples of his interpretation of the world, and can be both hilarious and poignant.