I've been putting this one off because I still don't think I like his work, I liked him, as an artist, as a person and all but his work was poor in my opinion.
There is another artist talk tomorrow so I had to get down to it tonight before they pile up.

John Berry was another artist who was a member of the wasps studios, also, doing different work than the two previous ones, he is a collage artist, and that is probably why I didn't like his work. John claimed that he always had a different view from everyone around him, a different feeling about the world. He studied illustration at art college and that got him into doing some commissioned work. All sorts of things that he did previously seemed interesting, he did illustration for 'snowman' did some graphic design, some teaching, he went to Istanbul where he found out he was a collage artist. For commissioned work he also did some murals. 
There was a particular thing he said that I could relate to "I love technology but I need to use physical things" I get that, I think technology is great for certain things but I just love getting my hands on things, for this reason I am extremely enjoying the paper making unit.
As an artist who likes physical work, he referred to his work as a record player, he says he likes his work being imperfect, just like old records make a scratching sound but that's the point of a record player, that's what we like to hear. A record player is low tech, just like John Berry, he only needs a few utensils to make his work. He said "I worry about stuff that no one cares about" while talking about the scrap bits of paper and super old magazines he keeps - because he uses fairly old stuff in his work - he does that because he feels he doesn't want anything to be recognised. I like that idea, but it seems he's a bit behind, he is stuck in his own bubble...
I noticed that the previous wasps studios artists were quite enthusiastic about having other artists around, where as John often said he goes in and shuts the curtain, he likes to be alone and get on with it, the only time he really mentioned other artists is when he said he looks through their bins to collect more stuff that no one cares about - which I though was hilarious.

Even though I didn't like his work it doesn't mean I didn't learn from him, he reminded me how useful unwanted things may be and he also talked a bit about how he will start something new, hang it on the wall and maybe look at it for a few days and come back to it, very smart way of working and also not over working, which I will keep in mind.