Jim Moir / Vic Reeves
“I won’t tell you again put some clothes on or get off my boat”
“Jim doesn’t just see birds, he looks at them, so intensely that he understands them. Not just anatomically or behaviourally – he knows how they feel.
That transcends painting or art – that is using a brush and pigment to make a future. Jim has imbued the bird with imagination. You can’t do this just because you can paint beautifully; it’s not about
reproduction, it’s about
translation.
About being able to speak bird with paint. To me, Jim’s process actually appears more instinctive than constructed, which in turn makes it far more admirable and valuable than ‘clever’. There are plenty of clever artists; sometimes I enjoy unravelling their art, but I prefer art that talks to me, talks straight. Art made from love.”
Chris Packham
“The Warhol of bird painting”
Jonathan Jones, The Guardian
Widely celebrated for his irreverent wit, glorious eccentricity and tremendous creativity, Jim attended the Sir John Cass Art School in London at the age of 22 before becoming a household name in British comedy for tv work including Vic Reeves Big Night Out, Shooting Stars, Vic Reeves Turner Prize Moments, The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer, Coronation Street and House of Fools.
His new widely celebrated Sky Arts tv programme Painting Birds with Jim and Nancy follows Jim and his wife Nancy Sorrell around the country with Jim painting birds and meeting up with friends and celebrites along the way. Cornwall Contemporary was featured in the Cornwall epsiode where Jim painted a Cornish Chough and delivered it to us in the gallery and this much loved new programme has just been commissioned for a
second series.
Art has always remained his first love and his original, eccentric and mischievous artwork has been exhibited at institutions including the Royal Academy in London. The anarchy and wonderful eccentricity for which he is synonymous is evident in his bold, vibrant and often surreal artworks which merge his interest in the natural world and his witty imagination. Jim’s exhibition ‘The Lord of the Radiant Garden’ opened at Cornwall Contemporary in June 2022 and was widely applauded by critics and works were sent as far afield as Hong Kong.
Jim Moir’s hugely anticipated solo exhibition ‘Comestibles Sir?’ opens at Cornwall Contemporary on 9th August 2023
Order the exhibition catalogue for Lord of the Radiant Garden here
Order Jim Moir’s hardback book Birds here
