Secret Satisfaction:
Jim Ramsay
Apr 03, 2011 – Apr 30, 2011
The Grudge: Random Miseries
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
When I was thrown out of architecture school it never occurred to me that this was some sort of cosmic hint. When they let me back in and I managed to graduate, I was nonplussed when a professor told me "we thought you could be an architect,we just didn't know if you wanted to be an architect". In hindsight I know that learning how to build things and knowing how to convey why you want them built that certain way were valuable but no, I really didn't want to be an architect....
But architecture took me to Japan where I started to make the crazy paper models of my youth again and school had taught me to write down the ideas behind the crazy paper models in my daily journal. Then architecture took me to the Caribbean and introduced me to people who knew that if you were going to stay the course you would have to chart it yourself. Finally it took me to the movie industry, a place where wild ideas are a daily currency and where stretches of hard work allows you the time and the space to be creative for stretches between jobs.The movies perhaps also presented me with the metaphor at the centre of my work.
So now I have the time, the resources and the inclination to build the alternate universe that presents itself to me on the pages of my sketchbook/journal. If the Walkman or the iPod have provided us the soundtrack to our own personal movies I'd like to think my pieces are the vehicle to engage everyone's personal movie narrator. Just like a movie set they are there to tell a story that is only brought alive by the interaction with the viewer.
The artists I collaborate with must be creating their own story as they work through their interpretation of the tangled chaos I have handed them. Each person that tries to bring their rational view of the world to interpreting the pieces must be telling themselves a story that I hadn't even imagined. And I guess that is what I am trying to accomplish-creating storied objects that allow your inner voice a flight of fancy...
Perhaps there is a special asylum for that sort of thing but as William Heath Robinson once said:
"I really have a secret satisfaction in being considered rather mad."
Artkar Electrik:Electricity detail
54 in x 21 in
paper and mixed media
$1700
Artkar Electric: 12 Midnite
39 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1500
Artkar Electric: Bound
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$950
Artkar Electric: Bronze
39 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1500
Artkar Electric: Christmas
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
Artkar Electric: Christmas
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
Artkar Electric: Flower
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$950
Artkar Electric: Flower detail
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$950
Artkar Electric: Ladies Collage
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$950
Artkar Electric: Rubble
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
Artkar Electric: Ruble detail
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
Artkar Electric: Skelton
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$900
Artkar Electric: Skelton detail
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$900
Artkar Electric: Stamped
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1100
Artkar Electric: Stamped detail
6 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1100
Artkar Electrik:Electricity
54 in x 21 in
paper and mixed media
$1700
Church of Deliverance detail
19.5 in x 8 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
Doodlebug detail
21.5 in x 14.5 in
paper and mixed media
$2000
Doomed House
37 in x 16 in
paper and mixed media
$4000
Doomed House
37 in x 16 in
paper and mixed media
$4000
Flawd: Believing in the Unbelievable
11 in x 16 in
paper and mixed media
$1100
Flawd: Believing in the Unbelievable detail
11 in x 16 in
paper and mixed media
$1100
Flawd: Honesty
13 in x 17 in
paper and mixed media
$1800
Flawd: Honesty detail
13 in x 17 in
paper and mixed media
$1800
FLAWD: Impatience
9.75 in x 14.75 in
paper and mixed media
$1100
Flawd: Self-Doubt
21 in x 10 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
Flawd: Self-Doubt detail
21 in x 10 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
Flawd: Show of Force
13 in x 11 in
paper and mixed media
$900
Flawd: Show of Force detail
13 in x 11 in
paper and mixed media
$900
Gas and Recruiting Station
16 in x 21.5 in
paper and mixed media
$3000
Gas and Recruiting Station detail
16 in x 21.5 in
paper and mixed media
$3000
Grudge: Million Dollar Rat Rods
11 in x 12 in
paper and mixed media
$1800
Grudge: Million Dollar Rat Rods
11 in x 12 in
paper and mixed media
$1800
SUZ: Sports Utility Zepplin
10.5 in x 11 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
SUZ: Sports Utility Zepplin detail
10.5 in x 11 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
Temple of Venus detail
22 in x 11.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
The Butcher Shop of Hopes and Dreams detail
in x in
paper and mixed media
$2400
The Great Escape Artist
24 in x 8 in
paper and mixed media
$1050
The Grudge Delivery Van
8 in x 16.5 in
paper and mixed media
The Grudge: Dirty Dishes
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
The Grudge: Dirty Dishes detail
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
The Grudge: Meat Gridge detail
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
The Grudge: Meat Grudge
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1400
The Grudge: Random Miseries
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1900
The Grudge: Random Miseries detail
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1900
The Grudge: The Military
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1600
The Grudge: The Military detail
11 in x 12.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1600
Town Without Pity: Church of Deliverance
19.5 in x 8 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
Town Without Pity: Comics Gulag
26 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$2700
Town Without Pity: Comics Gulag detail
26 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$2700
Town Without Pity: Hound's House of Chance
23 in x 13.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1800
Town Without Pity: Hound's House of Chance
23 in x 13 in
paper and mixed media
$1800
Town Without Pity: Sweet Bees Roasted
46 in x 10 in
paper and mixed media
$3500
Town Without Pity: Sweet Bees Roasted detail
46 in x 10 in
paper and mixed media
$3500
Town Without Pity: Temple of Venus
22 in x 11.5 in
paper and mixed media
$1200
Town Without Pity: The Butcher Shop of Hopes and Dreams
19.5 in x 8 in
paper and mixed media
$2400
Town Without Pity: Wal Mort
13 in x 33 in
paper and mixed media
$2400
Town Without Pity: Watchtower
45 in x 17 in
paper and mixed media
$2200
Town Without Pity: Watchtower detail
45 in x 17 in
paper and mixed media
$2200
Tucker Doodlebug
21.5 in x 14.5 in
paper and mixed media
$2000
Wal Mort detail
13 in x 39 in
paper and mixed media
$2400