Jonathan Armour
ISEA Bio(s) Available:
ISEA2024
I am an Irish artist based in London, fusing my first degree in Engineering with a Masters in Fine Art. My practice is an interplay between the mediums of oil painting and time-based digital media, feeding off an underlying urge to make the pixel more visceral. I have won several awards for my work, and am an elected member of The London Group and ArtCan. As of September 2024, I am enrolled in the Turps Off Site Programme.
My creative focus is an enquiry of the body and human condition. I have a particular fascination with the skin, which I see as an interface between the person within and the world around us. My digital work centres on collaboration with actual people to explore aspects of what/who they are, thus, there is a realness which feeds the rich imagery. Often, this includes mappings of ‘non-normative’ bodies (although I do not believe that any body can truly be called ‘normal’ per se), and digital investigations of the human body as a celebrated, objectified, abstracted form.
Creatively, my roots are firmly planted in the Renaissance when the exploration of the body was led by artists. Nurtured by an interest in Sci-Fi and transhumanism, those roots have grown, bypassing the Enlightenment, feeding on a few 20th and 21st century artists, and up to the present moment. Now, I am exploring the near future evolution of humans.
An ongoing project in my practice is Birth Sleeves. Taken from Richard Morgan’s Altered Carbon, ‘sleeve’ is the term used for bodies that serve as a receptacle for the human consciousness. The body an individual is born with is called their Birth Sleeve. The Birth Sleevesproject manifests as a body of research which has been presented across multiple solo shows, an ambitious curatorial project in collaboration with a group of 16 international artists, and has served as an impetus for the creation of numerous new artworks.
I have exhibited extensively in Europe, Australia/New Zealand and the US, including the Vigeland Museum, Oslo; Auckland Uni of Technology; Kings College London; Arco Madrid; Guildhall Gallery (City of London Corp); Ars Electronica; and the London Group.
