About
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.
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, 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 Sleeves project 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 new digital artworks.
Sometimes the work confronts the viewer with a particular human issue. For example, the seminal work Infinite Surface made in collaboration with Prof. Richard Sawdon Smith, challenges the stigma attached to living with HIV. The development of this film into a VR installation was supported by the pharmaceutical company Gilead, the main provider of PrEP.
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.
I was awarded the NTU Vieunite Art Prize in 2022 for Specimens about biophilia and the landscape of the mind.
In 2023 The Needlecast Rhapsody was selected for the Ars Electronica and showcased in DeepSpace 8K.
Later, Sleeve Shock was awarded the Schauerman Prize for digital art at the London Group Open 2023.
Follow on Instagram, Vimeo, YouTube
Awards
Winner of the Schauerman Digital Art Prize at the London Group Open.
The Schauerman Prize for Digital Art, awarded to Jonathan Armour for Sleeve Shock, a time-based digital work representing an interplay between both oil painting and digital mediums to investigate the human body.
‘‘We were blown away by the strange beauty of ‘Sleeve Shock,’ and Jonathan Armour’s remarkable 3D video techniques. We look forward to seeing what he does next,’’ shares Nicola Schauerman, Genetic Moo.
Ars Electronica Animation Festival 2023 selects The Needlecast Rhapsody.
The Needlecast Rhapsody was showcased at the Ars Electronica centre in Linz Austria, and also at Deep Space 8K as part of Bodies, Data, Space. Then later The Needlecast Rhapsody will be part of the Animation Festival on Tour.
Winner of the NTU X Vieunite ART PRIZE 2022
The judging panel included Dr Benedict Carpenter van Barthold, Principal Lecturer Fine Art at NTU, Yasmin Canvin, freelance curator & artit, and Tom Godfrey, Director of the Bonington Gallery choose Specimen 07 as the first prize winner. Specimens
Second prize winner at the New York Centre for Photographic Arts 2022.
Mappa Mundi Inscribed won second prize at the exhibition “The Human Body” selected by juror Darren Ching of the Klompching Gallery of Brooklyn NY.
QUALIFICATIONS
2013-15, MA in Fine Art, City and Guilds School of Art, London.
2012-13, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, City Lit College, London.
Previously, BSc Engineering, University of Bath.
RESIDENCIES
Perfection / Speculation at Praksis, Oslo, from August 2020 until September 2021 with the exhibition Perfection/Speculation at the Vigeland Museum. My participation in the Perfection|Speculation Residency was supported by the Arts Council England.
The residents were selected from investigators whose focus is on the modifiable human body as a medium of expression, experimentation, research and social interaction: artists, designers, scientists, writers, psychologists, programmers, film- and video-makers and anthropologists.
Perfection / Speculation connected with body cultures of the past, present and future. It was supported by the Vigeland Museum and funded by the Arts Council Norway and the City of Oslo.
COMMISSIONS
Commissioned to create 5 new works for “All our tomorrows…” conference, King’s College, London, curated by Gabriel Gbadamosi and Jonathan Meth, KCL Arts and Humanities Festival 2017.
SELECTED CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2024, Gradient Descent, Gossamer Fog, London, curated by AI.
2024, HEAD, London, curated by Jamie Gallagher.
2023, The London Group’s Open 2023, London, organised by The London Group.
2023, Birth Sleeves? New Editions solo show, London, curated by Andrew Etherington.
2023, Animation Festival, Ars Electronica, Linz, Austria, curated by Daniela Duca.
2023, Sleeve Shock, London, curated by Jonathan Armour.
2022, Birth Sleeves? solo show, London, curated by Andrew Etherington.
2021, Wells Art Contemporary, Wells Cathedral.
2021, Perfection|Speculation, Vigeland Museum, Oslo, Norway, curated by Praksis and Adam Peacock.
2020, In the Dark 2020: Even Darker, Cello Factory, organised by The London Group with Flux Events and Computer Arts Soicety, curated by Genetic Moo.
2020, Digitalized Perspectives, MK Gallery, Portland USA, curated by Gabrijel Hammong Savic Ra.
2019, Fugita, Chapel at Brompton Cemetery, London, curated by Robert Taylor.
2018 and 2017, Exceptional, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London, curated by Rosalind Davis.
2017, In Your Face, Salisbury Arts Centre, Salisbury, curated by Sadie Lee.
2017, Now, where are we? 1967-2017, Strand Gallery, London, curated by Michael Petry, exhibited with Sunil Gupta, Prof. Richard Sawdon Smith and Prof. Santiago Echeverry.
2017, Visiting Lecturer, Norwich University of the Arts, invited by the Dean.
2016, Money and Power, Guildhall Art Gallery, London, curated by Katherine Pearce.
OTHER CURATED EXHIBITIONS
2022, Home, London, curated by ArtCan.
2022, The Holy Collection of the Count of St. Germain, London, curated by Robin Spalding.
2020, Civil Disobedience: residente o visitante, Romantso in Athens, curated by Menelas.
2019, Fugita, Chapel at Brompton Cemetery, London, curated by Robert Taylor.
2017, Dartington Outing, Dartington Hall, Devon, curated by Dr. Kevin Childs.
2017, Federation Square and Midsumma Horizon, Melbourne, curated by Alison Bennett.
2017, Melt Festival, Brisbane, curated by Alison Bennett.
2016, Uncertain States, Mile End Arts Pavilion, London, curated by Uncertain States magazine.
OTHER EXHIBITIONS/EVENTS
2022, The Divine Complex, London.
2021, The Gardens of Earthly Delights, London.
2021, Our Digital Selves, online exhibition.
2020, Raft, online exhibition.
2020, Arada Arts Festival, Istanbul.
2020, Unmasked, Impulse Movement, online.
2020, Reconstruct, Pride Atelier, Berlin.
2019, What’s the point?, Menier Gallery, London.
2019, Looking the Other Way 2019, Espacio Gallery, London.
2019, FLUID Berlin, the Ballery, Berlin.
2019, FLUID, Espacio Gallery, London.
2017, GPN17, Hackney Wick, London.
2017, Summer Salon, Lubomirov Angus Hughes, London, curated by William Angus-Hughes.
2016, Indelible, Camden Image Gallery, London.
2016, DeArte, Palacio Neptuno, Madrid.
2015, Re:Defining Beauty, Leyden Gallery, London.
2015, 1 plus 3 skins, C&G Art School, London.
2015, 16/15, Muse Gallery, London.
Birth Sleeves? New Editions solo show, London, curated by Andrew Etherington.
Sleeve Shock, London, curated by Jonathan Armour.
Birth Sleeves? solo show, London, curated by Andrew Etherington.
Perfection|Speculation, Vigeland Museum, Oslo, Norway, curated by Praksis and Adam Peacock.
Fugita, Chapel at Brompton Cemetery, London.
All our tomorrows…, Anatomy Theatre King’s College, London.
Now, where are we? 1967-2017, Strand Gallery, London.
The Lord Mayor of City of Westminster Ian Adams holding an original copy of the Wolfenden Report, with the team that delivered “Now, where are we? 1967-2017”.
Jonathan Armour, Guy Burch, Kevin Childs, Jonathan Cooper, Brian Dennis, Richard Dickson, Santiago Echeverry, Franc-off GodeVi, Sunil Gupta, Charan Singh, Angel Ito, Brad Kenny, Michael Petry, Richard Sawdon Smith, Milan Svanderlik.
#androtechne #nowwherearewe
Exceptional, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London.
Jonathan Armour 