James Giddy
Artist Bio
James Giddy is a multidisciplinary artist who has gainedrecognition for his large-scale public art works both domestically andinternationally. Based in Boorloo (Perth), Giddy was initially recognisedthrough mural work for Form WA’s Public Project (2015) and completed a Bachelorof Fine Arts at Curtin University (2016 Degree Show).
With foundations in watercolour painting, Giddy pays homageto contrast and composition, looking to the natural environment and his nearsurroundings for inspiration. The immediacy and sense-of-place achieved by theFrench motif of ‘en plein air’ painting, translates through a lot of his muraland studio work.
Giddy’s works encourage the audience to question and bringtheir own contextual understanding to the composition, whilst providing aplatform of familiarity in the subject and its action. Through these dynamicsof a subject and its ground, Giddy often visits themes concerning the every-dayand the common civilian, whilst using the public reach of his mural work tolook at environmental awareness and conservation, drawing focus to nature in anurban environment or on a man-made structure
Artist Statement
Market Day is a body of works aligned with James Giddy’s ongoing project Strangers to Mortality. The subjects and figures displayed in the show window setting, encourage the audience to view a selection of everyday produce and items with a different perspective. Borrowing methods from high end branding and marketing, the items are portrayed as though they are much more than just products for the pantry, and closer aligned with items of desire.
Giddy’s Strangers to Mortality series explores themes of mass consumerism in late capitalism. Employing symbolic references, we witness Giddy selling out his own name; an extension of the age of individuality and branding belonging to our commodification of online social realms. This solo exhibition sits within an ongoing exploration of the human condition and relationship within the Australian environment and landscape.
The works beg questions on conformity, while exploring an idyllic emptiness that is experienced when a subject and its context are separated. Using his own surname, Giddy has reworked familiar products and brands, placing them amongst everyday figures and subjects. The insertion of his own name furthers a comment on social influence, that relies on one’s name to be everywhere and anywhere to remain relevant, encouraging and celebrating an identity that was once referred to as a “sell-out”. By introducing stark and jarring objects, or imagery, into often calm and gentle arrangements, Giddy initiates a taste of humour and contrast, drawing attention to the composition, texture and expression of the subjects and how they interact with the said object or imagery.
With his name-turned-brand, the artist encourages the audience to bring their own contextual understanding to the works whilst highlighting modern society’s inability to logically deal with the concept of death; an inevitable part of life.