The family of John Patrick McKenzie emigrated to the United States when he was two years old. At six, he did not speak, except for a few words. An evaluation upon entry to primary school revealed that he was autistic. John Patrick McKenzie was then transferred to a school for disabled children. He expressed himself in full sentences since his adolescence. Today he lives with his parents and two sisters in San Francisco. For over fourteen years, he has attended Creativity Explored, an art studio for disabled adults. Encouraged by the instructors, he began to draw and write on scraps of cardboard, plexiglass, salvaged window panes, painted boards, and even on a plastic mannequin. He lists phrases, often obscene and abusive, sometimes organized around a central theme as the name of a brand, food, news, celebrities. He likes to classify people according to the decades in which they were born, “beatniks” (1930), “cold turkeys” (1940), “whipper snapper nerds” (1950), “spring chickens”(1960), “fresh chickens” (1970) and “freshers” (post-1970). His works often deal with difficult relationships between different generations.
MCKENZIE john patrick
