JAMES JESSOP | Bomb Chaser @ CHARLIE SMITH london

JAMES JESSOP | Bomb Chaser @ CHARLIE SMITH london

Postby Zavier » Sat May 21, 2011 1:00 pm

CHARLIE SMITH london
336 Old St
London
EC1V 9DR
020 7739 4055
direct@charliesmithlondon.com
http://www.charliesmithlondon.com

JAMES JESSOP

Bomb Chaser

Private View | First Thursday
Thursday June 2nd 6.30pm–8.30pm

Exhibition Dates
Friday June 3rd 2011 - Saturday July 2nd 2011

Gallery Hours
Wednesday–Saturday 11am–6pm or by appointment

CHARLIE SMITH london is pleased to announce James Jessop’s first one person show with the gallery. The exhibition will
feature three large paintings, a salon wall of smaller works and Bomb Chaser, a new documentary that follows Jessop touring
the Bronx to visit the locations that he paints with one of his 1970’s graffiti heroes Blade, and Martha Cooper, photographer for
the seminal urban art book Subway Art (Thames & Hudson Ltd, London, 1984).

The title Bomb Chaser refers to Jessop’s life long love affair with graffiti. Like many others of his generation, Jessop was first
turned onto graffiti by Henry Chalfant and Cooper’s afore mentioned Subway Art. Presented with the book for his birthday in
1986 Jessop never looked back. Initially making drawings from Subway Art he slowly learned the language of the street before
taking in formal training at the Royal College of Art; solo shows in Copenhagen, Sao Paulo and London including at the now
legendary Rockwell Project; group shows globally including The Saatchi Gallery’s New Blood; and adding the occasional bit of
colour to city streets globally.

In this exhibition, 25 years later, Jessop has turned full circle and returned to the same source. Two monumental paintings
derive from his visit to New York City. Jessop and Cooper found the location at St Ann St where she originally shot Midg 1983
passing over St. Ann Street, South Bronx and created a new set up for the 21st century. Using the original image from 1983 for
one painting and then the new 2010 image for the other, we are treated to Midg’s whole car blaze in one and then the shiny
clean surface of a modern New York subway train in the other. The war between the writers and New York’s authorities had
been won and the result is a sanitised version of a once visually vibrant urban environment.

Technically Jessop combines the language of graffiti with those of fine art painting and spoof horror comics and B-movie
posters. As well as drawing on painters such as Van Gogh and Peter Doig, the latter by whom he was taught at the RCA,
Jessop under-paints using customised marker pens that have been adapted to make unique marks before filling in with acrylic
and oil. These pens have been used, kept, repaired and refuelled in cities across the world including Barcelona, New York
City, Rome, Turin, Sao Paulo and Montpellier. Painterly techniques and elements from historical painting are then transcribed
into areas of his compositions along with appropriations of 1950’s pulp fiction. The result is an distinctive collision of rich visual
idioms drawn from high, popular and underground cultures.

Please contact gallery for images and further information

Biographical:

Born: 1974

Education: 1997-1999: MA in Fine Art Painting, Royal College of Art; 1992-1995: BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Coventry University

Selected Solo Exhibitions: 2011 ‘Raising Hell ’, CHARLIE SMITH london, London; 2010: 'Beauty and The Beast’, High Roller Society, London;
2009: ‘Uncanny Tales’, Galleri Tom Christoffersen, Copenhagen; 2008: ‘James Jessop’, Galeria Thomas Cohn, Sao Paulo; 2007: ‘Night of the
Demon’, Sartorial Contemporary Art, London; 2006: ‘Subway Ghosts’, Sartorial Contemporary Art, London; 2005: ‘Warning the Monster is
Loose’, Rockwell, London.

Selected Two Person Exhibitions: 2005: ‘Fame', James Jessop & Stella Vine, This Way Up Gallery, London;
2004: ‘James Jessop & Jasper Joffe’, Rosy Wilde Gallery, London

Selected Group Exhibitions: 2010: ‘The Future Can Wait presents: Polemically Small’, Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles; ‘The Threadneedle
Prize for Painting and Sculpture’, Mall Galleries, London; ‘Demonology’ CHARLIE SMITH london; 2009: 'The Future Can Wait', Old Truman
Brewery, London; ‘Animals, Contemporary Visions', Martin Arte Internationale, Turin; ‘Subway Art, 25th Edition Launch’, Black Rat Projects,
London; 2006: ‘New London Kicks’, Wooster Projects, New York City; 2004: ‘New Blood’, The Saatchi Gallery, London; ‘Born, Cry, Eat, Shit,
Fuck, Die’, Rockwell, London

Collections: The Saatchi Gallery, London; private collections in Brazil, Denmark & the United Kingdom
Zavier
 
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Re: JAMES JESSOP | Bomb Chaser @ CHARLIE SMITH london

Postby mrharrypye » Mon Jun 13, 2011 6:45 pm

I wrote a review of this show and put it on my blog which you can see here:
therebelmagazine.blogspot.com
mrharrypye
 
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Re: JAMES JESSOP | Bomb Chaser @ CHARLIE SMITH london

Postby CAP » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:07 pm

Very nice review too Harry. Although I was disappointed that misspelled received in the third paragraph. Still, there may be some sort of street cred attached to this...

8-)
User avatar
CAP
 
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Re: JAMES JESSOP | Bomb Chaser @ CHARLIE SMITH london

Postby jamesunder » Sat Aug 06, 2011 4:24 pm

Good review, Harry! Good luck on your publication
jamesunder
 
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