Brendan Jamison (b.1979)

Green JCB Bucket with Three Holes

Born in 1979 in Belfast, Brendan Jamison studied for six years at the University of Ulster where he gained a First Class BA Honours degree in Fine and Applied Arts in 2002 and then a Masters in Fine Art in 2004. In 2015, he completed a certificate course in the history of Western Architecture at the University of Oxford.

His artworks have been widely exhibited internationally including Italy, America, New Zealand, India and China. He has been awarded residencies in New Delhi, New York Beijing and Berlin. He has had significant commissions such as those for Vogue Italia and Centre Pompidou and has enjoyed considerable worldwide media coverage.

Drawing inspiration from Eastern Philosophies and the science fiction genre, Jamison’s practice involves the construction of objects from the everyday world that are transformed into vibrant coloured ‘exaggerations’ and at times surreal ‘other worldly’ forms. As the original identities and functions of the object become altered, they can emerge as both strange and familiar, abstract and figurative, floating between the realm of fantasy and reality.

This sculpture of a decaying JCB bucket was built in response to the dilapidation of the drawing offices of the RUA exhibition and the surrounding redevelopment of the Titanic Quarter. It draws on the aesthetic of the construction industry but also incorporates a strong organic element through the use of colour and form. Hundreds of layers of wax suggest a slow build up over a long period of time, akin to the formation of stalactites.