John Myers

Originally from Bradford, Myers has been based in the Black Country town of Stourbridge, in the West Midlands region, since graduating from art school in Newcastle in 1969.

His photographs between 1972 and 1979 were all made within walking distance of where he lived, mostly of people and streets that he knew. His self-published book from this period, Middle England (1974), contains black and white portraits of individuals and families, which were also included in his first major exhibition, at Ikon Gallery in Birmingham in 2012. His black and white photographs of "garages, TVs, electricity substations, new builds and his neighbours" in The World is not Beautiful: 1973–1981 (published in 2017) was also made "within walking distance of his house". He has also extensively photographed British industry.

Myers uses a 4×5 large format Gandolfi camera that takes some time to set up and to use. He has noted the influence of photographers August Sander, Lewis Hine, Walker Evans, Eugene Atget, and Diane Arbus. Myers' photographic archive from 1972 to 1981 is held in the Library of Birmingham's photography collection. The archive contains 134 of his portraits, mainly from 1973 to 1975; and roughly 160 photographs of aspects of the urban environment, from 1974 to 1981.

Although his work is thoroughly English in feel, Myers was a contemporary of, and can be favourably compared to, American Landscape photographers including Stephen Shore, Lewis Baltz & Robert Adam[s]. Closely echoing minimalist sculpture, Myers’ imagery pares landscape back to its most minimal, presenting environments, objects and buildings, which marginalise or exclude human presence and offer clear stylistic affinities with the work of Carl Andre[,] Dan Flavin, Donald Judd and Sol LeWitt. In addition to the photographs’ conceptual purity, they also represent a remarkable and nostalgic panorama of Britain in the early 1970s.

Though he is best known for his photography, he is also an accomplished painter and was senior lecturer in fine art at Stourbridge College of Art from 1969 to 1989; then senior lecturer in painting, and head of the MA in painting, at the University of Wolverhampton from 1989 to 2001.

Publications by Myers

• Middle England: Twenty Four Photographs. Self-published, 1974. OCLC 228036416. With a preface by Paul David Lewis.
• Seeing the Unseen, the high speed photography of Dr. Harold E. Edgerton. Self-published, 1976.
• The Dudley Experience, De-Industrialisation, Unemployment and Enterprise in Dudley M.B.C. 1979–1983. Self-published, 1990.
• John Myers: Middle England. Birmingham: Ikon, 2011. ISBN 978-1904864721. With an introduction by Jonathan Watkins and Pete James, and essays by Paul Lewis, Dr. Eugenie Shinkle and Ian Jeffrey. Exhibition catalogue.
• The World is not Beautiful: 1973–1981. Hatfield, Hertfordshire: University of Hertfordshire Galleries; Manchester: Cornerhouse, 2017. Edited by Matthew Shaul and Steven Adams. ISBN 978-0-9935912-2-8. Exhibition catalogue.

Publications with contributions by Myers

• Serpentine Photography 73: The Arts Council presents work by 43 young photographers. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1973. ISBN 978-0900085949. 45 cards (90 sides) in an envelope.
• British Image 1. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1975. ISBN 978-0728700352. Photographs by Homer Sykes, Claire Schwob, Myers, Daniel Meadows, Bryn Campbell, Roslyn Banish, Ian Dobbie, and Paul Carter; with a very brief introduction by Robin Campbell and Barry Lane. Pages 28 to 37 present "Middle England" by Myers, introduced by an essay on the work by Paul David Lewis.
• About 70 Photographs. London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1980. Edited by Chris Steel-Perkins and William Messer. ISBN 0-7287-0208-8 (paperback); ISBN 0-7287-0209-6 (hardback). Steele-Perkins and Messer comment on Young Boy (1975) on pp 12–13.
• Approaching Photography. Focal Press, 1982. By Paul Hill. ISBN 9780240511450.
• Unpopular Culture: Grayson Perry Selects from the Arts Council Collection. Edited by Grayson Perry. London: Hayward, 2008. ISBN 9781853322679.
• The Photography Book. Second, revised edition. Phaidon, 2014. ISBN 978-0714867380.

Solo exhibitions

• John Myers 33 portraits, 14 boring photographs, 10 televisions, 8 sub stations, 6 houses, 3 furniture stores and one giraffe, Gallery of Photography, Dublin, February–March 2014.
• John Myers: The World is Not Beautiful - it is There, Art and Design Gallery, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, December 2016 – January 2017; The Gateway Gallery, Luton Culture, Luton, February–April 2017.

Group exhibitions (selected)

• Serpentine Photography 73, Arts Council, Serpentine Gallery, London, July–August 1973.
• Unpopular Culture, De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, May–July 2008; Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston, July–September 2008; DLI Museum and Art Gallery, Durham, November 2008 – January 2009; Southampton City Art Gallery, January–March 2009; Aberystwyth Arts Centre, March–May 2009; Scarborough Art Gallery, May–July 2009; Longside Gallery, Wakefield, July–October 2009; Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, November 2009 – January 2010. Artworks from the Arts Council Collection curated by Grayson Perry.

Curated exhibition

• Seeing the Unseen: The High Speed Photography of Dr. Harold Edgerton, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, January 1976; then toured to The Photographers' Gallery, London; Hatton Gallery, Newcastle University; Midland Group Gallery, Nottingham; Modern Art Oxford; and Arnolfini, Bristol. The first solo exhibition in Europe of work by Harold Eugene Edgerton (1903–1990), the inventor of single and multi-flash stroboscopic photography. Curated by Myers and Geoffrey Holt.

• Here's One I Made Earlier, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum, Rugby, April–May 2003

Myers' work is held in the following collections:

• Arts Council Collection, UK: 8 prints
• James Hyman Collection, UK
• Library of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK: roughly 300 prints

• 1974: Arts Council England publishing award to produce Middle England