James Jimbo spent a month in residency at Project Ability in September 2017. We were very impressed with the body of work he produced during his time with us, and with the profound connexion he made with our artists and their work. We invited him to curate a show in our gallery, showcasing artworks he chose from our studios and archive.
“Back one evening in November 2016 I happened across the joyful show of felt tip drawings of birds by Scott Smith. Transfixed by the intuitive simplicity I knew immediately I wanted to look at the ducks every day and came back the following morning and bought one. I was hooked.
Further visits to the gallery and a month long stint as artist in residence have continued to reveal more and more of the wonders of Project Ability. The artists here deal with a cross-section of diverse topics from landscape, celebrity, religion, mythology, literature, sports, patriotism, abstraction and the everyday. The works often reference and stem from a single printed image found from a book or the internet and blossom into complex narrative or emotive works reflecting the personalities and lives of their makers.
Binding the artists together is the freshness and energy of their approach – a natural, intuitive and expressive way to work which communicates and resonates directly and deeply within me. An approach which has had and continues to have a strong and inspiring influence on the approach to my own art practice.
The works themselves I am able to understand and appreciate not just on an aesthetic and intellectual level; but beyond this to an emotive and primal plane – as if I am able to feel the works. Something stirs within me as if I am unconsciously connecting to the artists who make them. To look at and feel the work is to be given hope and joy and love because that is what the work is made with. I am humbled; and I am helped to understand and appreciate life and how it is a beautiful and wonderful thing. And these artworks are truly beautiful in every sense of the word, and they generously share this beauty and enrich and inspire my very existence.”
-James Jimbo
Hooked By A Duck
Opening Thursday 12 July, 6pm-8pm
(Image: Tommy Mason)
Exhibiting artists:
Patrick Butterworth, John Cocozza, John Colvin, Marina Devlin, Neil Gillies, Edward Henry, Doreen Kay, Tommy Kemp, James Lawson, Grace McArthur, Lauren Mackay, Tommy Mason, Ronald McCulloch, Aodhan McGrory, Lesley Nimmo, James Pert, Scott Smith, Jaqui Smyth, Ronnie Stokesley, Steven Reilly.
