Artist’s Statement

I'm James Mathurin. I'm a Londoner, living and working in Sydney, who primarily works in a mixture of traditional pencil and ink linework and digital, and also photography and graphic design. After getting my BA in Visual Communication Design from Middlesex University, I did some freelance advertising work, and I have exhibited in London and Sydney, where I am based. My art practice has been influenced by comics, animation, surrealism and science (both real and fictional). Another big influence is my work in Primary and Secondary education, especially my Comic-Book clubs, where I encourage students to find some different worlds themselves, and maybe create their own. I also do photography, particularly street art from around the world, and some of it makes its way into my art. I also make humorous infographics (yes, that is a thing).

Using a combination of traditional pencil, pen and ink, photography, and digital techniques, my pieces in this show move through alternate pasts, presents and futures. In the past, the art world responds to having intelligent machines living alongside us in the 19th and early 20th Century; In one present, strange creatures and robots confront heroic figures in the middle of our cities, while in another, refugees from other dimensions live, work, and play alongside us; In a possible future, corporate cyborgs seek to forcibly acquire a new employee.

I have exhibited in London and Sydney, where I am based. My art practice has influenced and been influenced by my work in Primary and Secondary education, especially my Comic-Book clubs, where I encourage students to find some different worlds themselves, and maybe create their own.