2013 was a great year for James Beatham.
Not only did he graduate from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Fine Art, but was also a very deserving runner-up in the Nova Awards.
Beatham uses generic imagery from the Internet or other virtual worlds as platforms with which to explore the relationship between the virtual and the real, creating interplay between the two. Although Beatham references the virtual his use of materials is very broad, making scaled down models of buildings, plastic vacuum-formed plates, pen and pencil drawings as well as video and web art.
Beatham’s Proposed Solo Show (2013) is a two part piece. The first part is a video piece shot in first person, that documents a mocked-up solo show of Beatham’s own work created using Google Sketchup. The other piece is an miniature model of the exhibition in the video, allowing the viewer to watch the video walkthrough whilst having the opportunity to use the model as a reference point.
Beatham also explores landscapes and crossovers between real and virtual that are unclear if what you are seeing is of a real mountain shot with a dodgy video camera or that of a video game. The video continues through various landscapes with the viewer still unclear of the source of these views. That is, however, until the sound of a wind instrument builds up. It starts with soft drum beats that are followed by sharp violin notes that seem semi-familiar to the theme tune Nintendo’s video game, ‘Zelda‘. Then you start to realise the flatness of cliff faces and it all becomes apparent that everything you have been watching has been scenes collaged from video games.
Beathham has a great light hearted way to combine the crossover from two worlds, real and virtual into something that is charming and witty.
James Beatham has exhibited at Hoxton Garage (2013) and The Concourse Gallery (2013) in Archway, keep a look out because hopefully we will see more great work from James Beatham in the future.
In the meantime email Beatham for a dance, if you like the Macarena?https://www.jamesbeatham.net/dance/dancer.html
To see more of James Beathams work heres his website