About the artist-
Jonathan Yeo (born 18 December 1970, in London, England) is a British artist who rose to international prominence in his early 20s as a contemporary portraitist, having painted Kevin Spacey, Dennis Hopper, Cara Delevingne, Damien Hirst, Prince Philip, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, Erin O'Connor, Tony Blair, and David Cameron among others. GQ has called him 'one of the world's most in-demand portraitists'. He was educated at Westminster School.
His unauthorised 2007 portrait of George W. Bush, created from cuttings of pornographic magazines brought him worldwide notoriety, shown in London, New York and Los Angeles.
Yeo's 2016 mid-career survey at the Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle[2] followed a retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in 2013[3] and the Lowry in Manchester in 2014.[4]
Yeo was the subject of a BBC Culture Show Special in September 2013.[5] The monograph The Many Faces of Jonathan Yeo, featuring works from throughout his career, was published by London-based publisher Art / Books in the same month.[6]
His paintings are included within the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle, The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle in Denmark, and The Royal Collection.
In 2003 Yeo presented a diptych full-frontal nude of the then ICA chairman, Ivan Massow, the entrepreneur and patron of the arts at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
Yeo created a controversial portrait of George W Bush in 2007, entitled 'Bush', which gained worldwide attention. After a commission to paint the US president was reportedly awarded and then withdrawn, Yeo created an image of the President anyway, making a collaged portrait from pornography.[25] The work led to Yeo exhibiting more collages β mainly portraits and nudes β made in the same way.
At the first of these exhibitions in 2008, Yeo presented 'Blue Period' at Lazarides Gallery, owned by Steve Lazarides, a specialist dealer in outsider and street art, known for launching Banksy' career. The show included the Bush porn portrait as well as new collages of Hugh Hefner and Lucian Freud.[26]
It was reported that the George Bush collage was seized by Israeli customs on the way to the Banksy-curated 'Santa's Ghetto' exhibition in Bethlehem in December 2007.
'Porn in the USA', Yeo's first US solo show, was staged by Lazarides, taking place in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, and was met by critical acclaim. Following on from the success of 'Bush' (2007), this exhibition included portraits of Tiger Woods and Sarah Palin created from pornographic collage cutouts.[27][28][29]
Yeo had two works involved in the dispute over the sale of the late Dennis Hopper's art collection. He was one of only three artists to have been commissioned by Hopper to paint his portrait, the other two being Andy Warhol and Julian Schnabel. Hopper described his work as 'timeless and exquisite' Jonanthan Yeo's sitting targets.
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