Jamie McCartney biog and info

Artist Information

Biography

Jamie McCartney is a professional sculptor, working from his new studio and gallery in Brighton. Although English, he trained at the renowned Hartford Art School in America, from where he graduated (Bachelor of Fine Art with highest honours) in 1991.

Jamie is an artist who is hard to define. “I blame my degree in Experimental Studio Art,” he explains, “I’m still experimenting”. He admits to being a sculptor but shuns any closer definition. “I make things,” he says prosaically. This mock humility belies a strong and, some would say eccentric, character with a definite je ne sais quoi. Jamie is a maverick, a polymath, and a self-confessed enfant terrible. What he makes is causing quite a stir.

Having moved to the Brighton in summer 2007, Jamie offers his inimitable creations to Brightonians and day-trippers, seven days a week. In tandem with his more unusual creations (more on those below) the mainstay of his commercial work is his body sculptures, which he makes in a huge range of materials and finishes. Limited edition sculptures are available in the gallery, or you can commission one of yourself or your loved ones. Anything from whole bodies, to torsos, portraits, hands and feet etc. can be cast as beautiful and unique works of art.

Having gained respect for these award winning casts and his more conventional professional work, including a public steel sculpture in Egham town centre, he now treads a rather more controversial path. “I discovered there were 10,000 unemployed artists in Hackney, where I had my forge. I didn’t like the odds.” Jamie reflects. So he cast about for another medium. Having worked on many feature films as a prop maker to support his art, he began to bring those processes into his artwork. “It really suits my experimental nature. I’ve learnt to use so many materials through film that I now have a vast arsenal at my disposal. The only limit is my imagination. If I can think of it, I can make it.”

Which brings us to what else he is making now and it is, of course, fairly outré. Never shy of controversy, Jamie continues to explore the boundaries of what is possible and what is acceptable. His latest series of works, Sexidermy™ and Objets d’Aft™, involving the use of taxidermy, fur, body parts and everyday objects are characteristically controversial. Actaeon, Armadildo and Shuttlecocks are typical examples of his new Contemporary Surrealism. Jamie was awarded the 2007 Erotic Signature sculpture prize for his piece "The Spice of Life". April 2007 saw the opening in the West End of Amora, The Academy of Sex and Relationships, which features many of Jamie’s sculptures on permanent display including this iconic wall sculpture. His stock, as they say, is rising…

An established artist, Jamie has exhibited in many individual and group shows and manages to juggle several artistic directions. Constantly in demand for his commissioned body portraits, Jamie divides his time between these and his gallery pieces. He may be flavour of the month in erotic art circles, but his sweep is much broader than that. "I don't think of myself as an erotic artist at all. I work with a lot of processes and like to keep it that way. I love to experiment in the studio and see what comes of it. I'm inspired by many things but recurrent themes are the human body, sexuality, notions of beauty, mortality, corrosion, impermanence, natural processes and the natural world."

Having just won his second public award for his pedal powered car Car-bon Miles in the UK's first Art Car Parade, Jamie's broad creative sweep is becoming something of a trademark. Always evolving and developing new processes as he goes, Jamie is never content to rest on his laurels. His attention has also turned to more public artworks. Ideas currently in development are projects using confiscated illegal weapons, some globally collaborative conceptual works and a celebrity casting project for charity. Check the Latest Projects page regularly for updates on all of these as they happen.

Nearly ready for its public launch is his Great Wall of Vagina, featuring 360 casts of different women's genitals. Conceived to combat the rapid rise in cosmetic labia surgery this stiunning but controversial work looks set to launch Jamie onto the world stage. Watch this space and buy now whilst he is still affordable...

A commentator on the Brighton art scene with his column Sculpture Vulture and frequently a judge in art competitions Jamie is also an art critic in his own right. With his moniker of Critical I, he applies the same scrutiny to his own works.