Jon Fawcett: Visual Performance BA(Hons) graduate
Jon Fawcett graduated in 2001, with a degree in Visual Performance at Dartington. At the time his one ambition was to become a professional artist and to be able to support himself by working as an artist. He moved to London, where he began making artwork for various regular commissions and invitations, before deciding to involve himself in making larger, more long-term projects.
After several years of struggling to survive purely on income from art projects, Jon found himself a job as a freelance audio-visual technician, installing video and related equipment in galleries in and around London, and he feels that this financial independence has allowed his practice to continue to grow and to remain interesting.
Much of Jon's earlier work took place in public spaces, arousing the curiosity of pedestrians, who unknowingly become part of the work, such as Paperworks, commissioned by Hull Time Based Arts for ROOT festival, Hull, 2001, during which paper lines were created in the street and the reactions of passers-by videoed and shown in a gallery.
During the Ancient Futures festival, Coed Hills Rural Art Space, Cardiff, and on the UK tour, 2002, participants were given a set of tools and sent on a quest. On returning they took part in conversations concerning the results of their actions.
Selected solo exhibitions include Caught in a Trap, Space Station Sixty Five Gallery, London 2002; CLa, Bishopsgate, London 2004; and New Entities, Elastic Residence, London 2005. Other work includes Cuboid, Etak at Elastic Residence, London 2004; Setting Out 2, 291 Gallery, London 2005; and Common Star, Real Estate at the ICA, London 2005. His grants and residencies include Liveartmagazine New Works Bursary, for Caught in a Trap, 2002 and Helsinki International Artists' Programme Residency, Finland, 2003.
More recent work has involved larger interventions into less public spaces - such as offices in London and Birmingham. In CLa, supported by an Arts Council of England research grant, in 2004, he asked volunteers to phone companies on a straight line through the City of London to try to get plaques installed in their offices. In Arc, commissioned for Birmingham City Centre by Fierce Earth in 2005, he sent boxes containing large cakes to offices along a line, creating a huge sculpture of 'potential cake eating'.
His most recent work places more emphasis on text and storytelling, such as in Observation Project 04-05, shown at the ADI Project Space in London, in 2005. Made up of a scrolling text video work, it describes the findings of a group of individuals travelling the world looking for non-physical phenomena.
Recent shows include Aorist N at the Bonnington Gallery, Nottingham and Future Map at The Arts Gallery in London. In 2007 Jon finished a Masters degree course in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts and since has participated in the group show ‘Bad Year Blimp' (June-July 2008) at Alma Enterprises in London followed by two video installations: Wheel (San Miguel de Bolivar, Ecuador) and Transformer (Astana, Kazakhstan) at Live Art Falmouth (LAF08, June 2008).
Jon is continuing to develop his series of global occurrence works, currently working on a project for Japan. Other future projects will occur in Northeastern Australia, Northwestern Canada, and the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean.
For more information see:
http://www.jonfawcett.com
http://almaenterprises.com/current_show.html
http://www.liveartfalmouth.com/site/
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