Some snaps of recent street paintings I have done in Paris.

I am in Europe for a residency at the McCulloch Studio at the Cité in Paris. On my way there I will visit the Biennale in Venice and check out some other bits or art and culture in Italy and England. You can catch up on what I am seeing and doing via my tumblr: jamin-art.tumblr.com. Arrivederci.

Shields Against the Enemy

CRITERION GALLERY, Hobart
12 May - 11 June 2011



Click here for images of works

Information pours upon us, instantaneously and continuously. As soon as information is acquired, it is very rapidly replaced by still newer information. Our electrically-configured world has forced us to move from the habit of data classification to the mode of pattern recognition. We can no longer build serially, block-by-block, step-by-step, because instant communication insures that all factors of the environment and of experience co-exist in a state of active interplay. 1

We live in a relationship with the world that is mediated by competitive forces. It is a marriage of lust and violence, woven into a mythic narrative about ourselves in which we figure as hero, saviour and inheritor of a blessed heritage. We are possessed of a most potent salve of self-forgiveness and a scathing tongue of recrimination. We the adepti at the Church of Lesser Evils.

I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. 2

Throughout history we have sublimated our transgressions against the other. In turn, we have accreted in vast storehouses the memory of transgressions committed against us. We hold the potential energy of these forces in check with the feathery weight of our self-restraint.

All gods are homemade, and it is we who pull their strings, and so, give them the power to pull ours. 3

We promote that which we despise and cast down that which we hold dear.

Soon I discovered that this rock thing was true… Jerry Lee Lewis was the devil and Jesus was an architect previous to his career as a prophet. 4

We are the chosen elite, the custodians and overlords of planet Earth. We are the self appointed arbiters of morality and profanity, and we enforce our dictates through elaborate and pervasive systems of technology. We are the architects of poverty, the engineers of exclusion. Billions stand behind us.

We are the enemy, and we are on drugs. 5

Jamin, 2011


1. Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage (1967, p. 63).
2. Abraham Lincoln in a letter to (Col.) William F. Elkins, Nov. 21, 1864.
3. Aldous Huxley
4. Jesus Built My Hotrod, Ministry, 1991
5. Enemy, Scars on Broadway, 2008

Sneak peak of my work in progress for:

NEXT SHOW - Exhibition put on by Aedan Howlett and Alphabetrix

45 Melville St, 6pm Saturday, October 30th + All day Sunday 31st

"ONE night, ONE day, 40+ radly awesome artists and HUNDREDS of square meters of art.

We have hired out a warehouse for a weekend to put on a street event of moumental proportions. We have a massive aerosol collab wall, painted objects and an open exhibition. It will be a fully licenced event so NO BYO. After spending a few hours enjoying the incredible array of artwork from all sorts of artists, there will be an AFTER PARTY at the Brisbane Hotel with Brand New Second Hand and DJ BTC & friends. The theme for the Bris festivities is "soundtracks" with a dress up theme of "films" so get ya frock on!"

More info here:

http://www.alphabetrix.com.au/nextshow/
http://www.facebook.com/thenextshow

Everyone's a Winner, Jamin, 2010, spray enamel and projection on wall, approx 2m x 2m

This work with an accompanying video is currrently on display in an exhibition curated by Fernando do Campo called 'The Oyster's Locale' at the Mill Providore Gallery in Launceston, Tasmania.

The exhibition runs from 25th August till 3rd October, 2010.

Wolves in Sheeps Clothing, Jamin, 2010, spray enamel and acrylic paint on wall, approx 3m x 4m, with painting Force #1, Jamin, 2008, spray enamel on coated steel, 110 x 110cm

This work is currently on display at Poimena Gallery, Lunceston, as part of the exhibition Spray Drip Stroke, curated by Ben Miller. The exhibition runs from 25th June till 15th July.

The artist statement is this:

Force #1 was produced early in 2008, not long after Rudd's election victory in late 2007. The work responds to the shift that was occurring at a local (Bartlett), national (Rudd) and global (Obama) level in politics at the time. Presented amongst works depicting those other politicians, each piece was layered with a textual counterpart sourced from historic and contemporary sources - it would seem somewhat prophetically as it turns out, and infused with warning.

In Force #1, the text is sourced from Sun Tzu's Art of War, and reads:

"Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness."

The other work I have presented for this exhibition will be completed on the day of the show... I am sure you now have a better idea of what it is, than what I do at this point, 5 days out from the opening...

Jamin, 21 June 2010

Here are some images of my work from a group exhibition called 'Let's Make the Water Turn Black', at INFLIGHT ARI in Hobart during June, 2010.

LETS MAKE THE WATER TURN BLACK

Geoff Parr, Pip Stafford, Wayne Brookes, Joel Crosswell, Carolyn Wigston, Jamin, Pat Brassington and Lucia Usmiani

Curated by Mat Ward

An Exploration into the influence of childhood play upon contemporary arts practice.

This exhibition invites eight Tasmanian artists to look back to their childhoods and tease out the links between their first engagements with art-making and their current practice. It is the premise of this exhibition that a substantial part of what motivates and informs adult art making can be traced back to pre-adolescent interests and activities - both formally and conceptually.

The participating artists were selected to provide an overview of the changing cultural landscape of Australia, from the post-war period through to the world of Generation Y.

INFLIGHT ARI Website

Prosopography - INFLIGHT ARI @ Academy Gallery, Launceston
11 February - 16 March 2010

This work is a collaboration between Mat Ward, Rob O'Connor and myself, with the cut out Avatar-like figures my contribution and the large painting by Mat and Rob. John Gay, Tony Abbott and Peter Garrett are the 'Avatars'.

Change #4 (Darwin / Twain), 2009, enamel spray paint on coated steel, 110 x 110cm

"Change #4" is hanging down at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for a few months. If your in the area or passing through, have a look if you feel like it.