8/11/2012
Jim Shaw
Baltic 39, Newcastle
You think you own your stuff but your stuff owns you. An exhibition of Shaw's collection of found thrift store paintings. His collection presented here alongside found photographs, drawings and a theatre backdrop, now numbers around 100 works. The paintings are instead presented as an archive of found aesthetics.
You think you own your stuff but your stuff owns you by LA based artist Jim Shaw is the
third exhibition at BALTIC 39, a new cultural hub for contemporary art. Jim Shaw (born
1952) is one of America’s most important and prolific contemporary artists. Part of a ground-
breaking group that graduated from CalArts in the late 1970s including Mike Kelley, John
Miller and Tony Oursler, Shaw has one of the most distinctive visual imaginations of his
generation.
Based in Los Angeles, Shaw has spent many years finding and collecting paintings by
anonymous artists. His collection of Thrift Store Paintings, presented here alongside found
photographs, drawings and a theatre backdrop, now numbers around 100 works. The
paintings have not been modified in anyway, and are instead presented as an archive of
found aesthetics arranged and curated by Shaw.
Jim Shaw’s favourite haunts to collect works are the city's numerous flea markets and thrift
stores. For Shaw, their presentations represent 'the whole history of America’ and reveal its
waste, consumption, tastes and histories. Much like his work, they bring a perverse order to
the weirdness and wonder of the country's detritus. ‘We’re very good at producing crap,’ he
says. ‘We started with the Shakers who produced exquisite furniture of a simple form and
we’ve gotten to the point where we can produce things like The Avengers that are full of non-
meaning and meaning at the same time.’ The flea markets feed Shaw’s collage mentality
providing an inexhaustible source of objects and topics of research that flood his own work
with both personal and societal streams of consciousness.
Also on show at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead Jim Shaw: The Rinse
Cycle (9 November 2012 – 17 February 2013) presents the first large-scale solo exhibition
since 1999. It will bring together more than 100 paintings, sculptures, drawings and videos
from the last 25 years, including several works that have never been exhibited before.
JIM SHAW born in 1952 in Midland, Michigan he attended University of Michigan at Ann
Arbor, 1974, BFA; California Institute of the Arts, 1978, MFA. He lives and works in Los
Angeles.
Recent exhibitions include; Jim Shaw, Metro Pictures, New York, US (2012); Jim Shaw:
Fumetto, International Comix-Festival Luzern, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland
(2011); Cakes, Men in Pain, White Rectangles, Devil in the Details, Patrick Painter Inc., Santa
Monica, US (2011);Thrilling Stories from the Book of “O”, Galerie Praz-Delavallade, Paris,
France (2011); Left Behind CAPC Musée d'art Contemporain, Bordeaux (2010); New Works,
Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Athens, Greece (2010); Labyrinth: I Dreamed I Was Taller Than
Jonathan Borofsky, Printemps de Septembre, Toulouse, France (2009); Wet Dreams, Erotic
Dream Drawings by Jim Shaw Praz-Delavallade, Paris (and 1997, 1999, 2000, 2005, 2007);
The Whole: A Study in Oist Integrated Movement, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK (2009).
Recent group exhibitions include; Incongogru: Quand l’art fait rire, Musée cantonal des
Beaux-Arts de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland (2011); Interchange, Exchange LA, Los
Angeles, US; All of the above (carte blache á John Armleder), Palais de Tokyo, Paris,
France (2011); Secret Societes: to know, to dare, to will, to keep silence, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt,
Germany (exh. cat) This exhibition travelled to CAPC - Musée d’Art, Contemporain de
Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France (2011); California Dreamin: Myths and legends of Los Angeles,
Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France (2011); All That Is Unseen, Allan Nederpelt Gallery,
Greenpoint, US (2011); Echoes, Centre Culturel Suisse, Paris, France (exh. cat); The
Archaic Revival, curated by Dani Tull, Las Cienegas Projects, Los Angeles, US (2011);
Musique plastique, Galerie du jour Agnes B, Paris, France (2011) Citysonic – Festival des
Arts sonores, Grande Halle, Mons, Belgium (2011); The Spectacular of Vernacular, Walker
Art Center, Minneapolis, US (exh. cat). This exhibition travelled to Montclair Art Museum,
Montclair, US (2011).
BALTIC 39 is a collaboration between funders Newcastle City Council and Arts Council
England and new operating partners, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and
Northumbria University.
It was created from an existing six story warehouse building built in 1905. The structure of
the building was largely preserved, with the introduction of three modern interventions,
although the building has been designed to retain its original industrial feel.
The architectural concept for the building was created by Austrian Architects, Jabornegg &
Palffy, with detailed design by the Newcastle office of Atkins Global. The Structural Engineer
was White Young Green. Newcastle City Council provided the Mechanical and Electrical
design and the overall Project Management was undertaken by JPM Consultants. The main
contractor was Rok Building Ltd.
For further information, interview requests and images please contact:
Chloë Barker, Media Relations Executive T: 0191 440 4915 E: chloeb@balticmill.com
BALTIC 39
31 – 39 High Bridge, Newcastle upon-Tyne NE1 1EW
Opening hours: Wednesday – Sunday 12.00 – 18.00 except Thursday until 20.00
Admission is free.