Jim Shaw (artist)

Horror a Vacui #45, ink on canvas by Jim Shaw, 1991, Honolulu Museum of Art

Jim Shaw (born 1952) is a contemporary American artist.He received his B.F.A. from University of Michigan in 1974 and his M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in 1978.

Profile

Jim Shaw is the creator of the O-ism, an American religion said to originate at the same time as Mormonism in the 19th century. Its theology centers on a goddess who may not be named and who is referred to only as O. In 2002, Shaw presented an exhibition at the Swiss Institute in New York[1] in which he installed Goodman's studio and paintings,[2] as well as a massive set of file cabinets housing Gunn's collection of reference imagery, mostly taken from commercial publications of various kinds. More O-ist works were exhibited later in 2003-2004 at the Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble, France and Kunsthaus Glarus, Switzerland.


Art exhibitions

In 2000, Jim Shaw staged a show at the ICA, London, of Thrift Store Paintingspaintings he had collected by (mostly anonymous) amateur artists in America. Some reactions to this show included Adrian Searle of The Guardian stating "The paintings are awful, indefensible, crapulous…", "these people can't draw, can't paint; these people should never be left alone with a paintbrush", and "The Thrift Store Paintings are fascinating, alarming, troubled and funny. Scary too, just like America."[3] For Sarah Kent of Time Out: "Critics professing to be gobsmacked by these efforts can never have seen an amateur art show or walked along the railings of the Bayswater road. They should get out more."[3] In 1999-2000, Shaw had his first major European retrospective touring at the Casino Luxembourg and at the MAMCO in Geneva.

In 2012-13, Jim Shaw exhibited his first UK retrospective at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, England.[4]

In 2013-2014, Chalet Society[5], Paris invited Jim Shaw to exhibit his collection of Didactic Art. Entitled The Hidden World, this exhibition presented a rich universe composed of books, flyers, T-shirts, vinyls, and other illustrations with didactic intentions, that recycled American myths and beliefs and revealed an astounding archive of contemporary imagination. These unclassifiable works were produced by mostly anonymous artists for specific commissions by religious denominations, not so secret societies, far-fetched orders and fraternities, conspiracy theorists of all kinds, children’s encyclopedias, and medical books. [6]

In March 2015, Jim Shaw's Entertaining Doubts opened at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass Moca).

From October 2015 to January 2016, Jim Shaw: The End is Here, the first New York survey exhibition of his work, exhibited at the New Museum.[7]


Music

As an art student in Ann Arbor, he helped form the protopunk group Destroy All Monsters along with Mike Kelley, Niagara and filmmaker Cary Loren in 1973. He left the band in 1976 and played with the original line up in reunion shows in 1995.

Shaw's 'The Great Whatsit' (2017) was used for the cover art for Oneohtrix Point Never's Age Of (2018).

References

  1. http://www.swissinstitute.net/2001-2006/Exhibitions/2002_Jim_Shaw/JimShaw.htm
  2. "The O-ist painter Adam O. Goodman is known for a body of large color-field paintings that infuse modernism with O-ist spirituality. Unrecognized in his own lifetime, Goodman earned his living as an illustrator under the pseudonym Archie Gunn."
  3. 1 2 "What the Critics Say Jim Shaw at the ICA", newsletter 2, artrumour.com, October 23, 2000 Archived October 25, 2006, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved March 28, 2006.
  4. Searle, Adrian. (8 November 2012) "Artist Jim Shaw stuffs American pop culture through the Rinse Cycle". Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  5. "Chalet Society". chaletsociety.org (in French).
  6. "Aesthetica Magazine - Jim Shaw: Archives, Chalet Society, Paris". Aesthetica Magazine.
  7. http://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions/view/jim-shaw-the-end-is-here
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