English
The artist Jamie Shovlin is obsessed with that delicate and fragile line between reality and fiction, memory and history. Born in 1978 in England, he held his first exhibition in 2004; since then he has risen to fame thanks to his intricate and conceptual works that caught the attention of one of the most famous and controversial collectors of our time, Charles Saatchi.
One of his most famous works is probably “Naomi V. Jelish”, 2001, an extensive and detailed archive of drawings and newspaper clippings of a girl of 13, who allegedly disappeared under very mysterious circumstances. A striking work because of its dark tale at first glance that seemed to be based on real events and then ended unveiled as an elaborate fiction by the artist.
And it is this tension between reality and myth that has always attracted the artist and which uses as a base for all his works. The human being’s capacity of facing this alleged reality with the most absurd or noble idealism and its need to build narrative tissues, completely fictitious in its background and which form the basis of any identity, whether it be social, cultural or political. And that´s how Shovlin does in his work, based on constructing and using different materials and media such as video, photography, text to highlight the fantasy, history and memory are made of the same material: human imagination.
On October 26 the MACRO in Rome celebrated the opening of “Hiker Meat”an exhibition that presents the latest feat of Shovlin. In it, the artist strikes again with an interesting audio-visual collage which, again, takes us into the wonderful world in which fiction and reality dissolves.
More info at: http://en.macro.roma.museum/mostre_ed_eventi/mostre/jamie_shovlin_hiker_meat
Heloise Battista
Rent apartments in Rome because until February, 6 you have time to visit the MACRO and know the work of this multifaceted artist, that will encourage you to rethink your perception of reality.?
Translated by: salome antigone
