Jim Ricks is an American and Irish

conceptual artist Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional Aesthetics, aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes ca ...

, writer, and curator. He has exhibited throughout Ireland and internationally, including a number of public art projects.

Early life and education

Ricks was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California. He started painting

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

in the early 1990s. He studied photography and graduated from the

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...

(2002) and received a Masters from the

National University of Ireland, Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

and

Burren College of Art Burren College of Art is an Irish non-profit independent art college specialising in undergraduate and graduate Fine Art education, located in Ballyvaughan, County Clare, Ireland. The Master of Fine Art programme is accredited by the University ...

programme (2007).

Career

Ricks's work utilises appropriation, institutional critique, politics, and humour. He has had solo shows in the United States, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Mexico. Ricks was director of 126 Artist-run Gallery from 2007–9, curating a number of shows and organizing exchanges with other

artist-run space An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...

s. With Stephanie Syjuco, he created knock-offs of work at the

Frieze Art Fair Frieze Art Fair is an international contemporary art fair in London, New York, and Los Angeles. Frieze London takes place every October in London's Regent's Park. In the US, the fair ran on New York's Randall's Island from 2012–19 and in 2 ...

in London, 2009. In an ongoing body of work, "Jim Ricks has developed the method of ''synchro-materialism'' as a means to consider the territory where art meets capitalism", and he has used this

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

in exhibition, performance, and print since 2010. In 2015 he travelled to

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

to make ''Carpet Bombing'', a large traditionally made

carpet A carpet is a textile floor covering typically consisting of an upper layer of pile attached to a backing. The pile was traditionally made from wool, but since the 20th century synthetic fibers such as polypropylene, nylon, or polyester hav ...

featuring imagery of military drones – an updated version of Afghan's

war rugs The war rug ( ''farš jangi'') tradition of Afghanistan has its origins in the decade of Soviet occupation of Afghanistan from 1979 and has continued through the subsequent military, political and social conflicts. Afghan rug-makers began inco ...

. He participated in the 2017 Ghetto Biennale,

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

, Haiti.

Public projects

* ''Poulnabrone Bouncy Dolmen'' is a large inflatable sculpture designed for people to interact with and play on. It is a twice-the-size replica of a 6,000-year-old megalithic portal tomb, the

Poulnabrone Dolmen Poulnabrone dolmen (Poll na Brón in Irish) is an unusually large dolmen or portal tomb located in the Burren, County Clare, Ireland. Situated on one of the most desolate and highest points of the region, it comprises three standing portal sto ...

situated in the Burren, Co. Clare. It traveled to venues around the Aughty Region of

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

in June 2011 and was a

Galway County Council Galway County Council ( ga, Comhairle Chontae na Gaillimhe) is the authority responsible for local government in County Galway, Ireland. As a county council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. The council is responsible for hous ...

project. Cristín Leach of

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

wrote:

"We need to start thinking more creatively about public art. Jim Ricks has. Poulnabrone Bouncy Dolmen... is a commentary on our past, our present, the concept of “brand Ireland” and the very idea of public art; and everyone is invited to bounce. A temporary, movable, witty, interactive, contemporary public artwork we are all invited to play with?
lice Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result o ...
Maher has endorsed it as “the best public art piece...ever”. She might just be right."

The piece was also shown alongside

Jeremy Deller Jeremy Deller (born 30 March 1966) is an English people, English conceptual, video and installation artist. Much of Deller's work is Collaboration, collaborative; it has a strong political aspect, in the subjects dealt with and also the Idealiz ...

's 2012 inflatable

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

, ''Sacrilege,'' in Belfast, and was featured in the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...

exhibition Futures 12. * Ricks is working on the long-term, global public art project '' In Search of the Truth'' (or '' En Busca de la Verdad'' ). It is a collaboration with Ryan Alexiev,

Hank Willis Thomas Hank Willis Thomas (born 1976 in Plainfield, New Jersey; lives and works in Brooklyn, NY) is an American conceptual artist working primarily with themes related to identity, history, and popular culture. Early life and education Hank Willis Th ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

writes: "The “Truth Booth,” a roving, inflatable creation, in the shape of a cartoon word bubble with "TRUTH" in bold letters on its side, serves as a video confessional. Visitors are asked to sit inside and finish the politically and metaphysically loaded sentence that begins, "The truth is …"". The project has travelled Ireland, Afghanistan, South Africa, Australia, the United States, and Mexico, recording and then exhibiting the thoughts of many people on the subject of

truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as beliefs ...

in several countries. * ''Life's a Beach (Art imitates life)'', Gable end mural responding to the political

Murals in Northern Ireland Murals in Northern Ireland have become symbols of Northern Ireland, depicting the region's past and present political and religious divisions. Belfast and Derry contain arguably the most famous political murals in Europe. It is believed that alm ...

, Abercorn Rd.,

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, April 2016 * ''Sesiones Publicas'', San Agustín, La Lisa, Cuba, a LASA project, August 2017.

Museum projects

Ricks was invited to participate in a 2 year project called ''Sleepwalkers'' (2012–15) at the

Hugh Lane Gallery The Hugh Lane Gallery, officially Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and originally the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, is an art museum operated by Dublin City Council and its subsidiary, the Hugh Lane Gallery Trust. It is in Charlemont House ( ...

in Dublin. He was one of six artists invited to use the museum's resources, in an "unusual experiment in exhibition production". Ricks's contributions included a tribute to

Richard Hamilton (artist) Richard William Hamilton CH (24 February 1922 – 13 September 2011) was an English painter and collage artist. His 1955 exhibition ''Man, Machine and Motion'' (Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne) and his 1956 collage ''Just what is it that ...

, unauthorized exhibitions, his solo show: ''Bubblewrap Game: Hugh Lane'', 2013 – 14, and a closing event which included James Barry in 2014.

Aidan Dunne Aidan Dunne is a visual arts critic and contributor to ''The Irish Times.'' Education Dunne is a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. Career Aidan Dunne has written regularly for ''The Irish Times'' for decades. He ...

of the

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

describes Ricks's participation as a "curatorial process of selection and validation, making a museum within the museum comprising works from the real collection, artworks borrowed from elsewhere, non-art objects from flea markets and a commissioned copy of an

Ed Ruscha Edward Joseph Ruscha IV (, ''roo-SHAY''; born December 16, 1937) is an American artist associated with the pop art movement. He has worked in the media of painting, printmaking, drawing, photography and film. He is also noted for creating severa ...

painting." He exhibited at the Trotsky Museum in Mexico City in 2022.

Selected solo exhibitions

*2010 – ''Synchromaterialism'', Pallas Contemporary Projects, Dublin, Ireland *2013–2014 – ''Bubble Wrap Game: The Hugh Lane'',

, Dublin, Ireland *2015 – ''Alien Invader Super Baby (Synchromaterialism IV)'' Onomatopee,

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022, *2016–2017 – ''Centro de Ontología Nacional'', Casa Maauad, Mexico City, Mexico *2018 – ''Museo Ambulante Sebastián'', Mexico City, Mexico *2020 ''– Así Luce la Democracia , This is What Democracy Looks Like'', Galeria Daniela Elbahara, Mexico City, Mexico *2021–2022 ''– El camino a París y Londres pasa por las aldeas de Afganistán'', Leon Trotsky Museum, Mexico City

Bibliography

* Ricks, Jim (Editor), ''Artist-run democracy: sustaining a model, 15 years of 126 gallery'', Eindhoven: Onomatopee, 2022. ISBN 9789493148734 * de Búrca, Ella, Michaële Cutaya, Jim Ricks. ''IRLDADA: 201916''. Mexico City: Black Crown Press, 2019. *Ricks, Jim. ''Alien Invader Super Baby (Synchromaterialism VI)''. Eindhoven: Onomatopee, 2018. *Packer, Matt, Declan Long, and Jim Ricks. "Here Comes The Summer", Derry: Centre for Contemporary Art Derry~Londonderry, 2017. *Bossan, Enrico. ''2016 an image of Ireland : contemporary artists from Ireland''. Crocetta del Montello: Antiga edizioni, 2016. * Edited by Michael Dempsey and Logan Sisley. ''Sleepwalkers''. Dublin:

and Ridinghouse, 2015.

References

External links

Official websiteShower of Kunst
– art writing {{DEFAULTSORT:Ricks, Jim Living people 21st-century American artists American conceptual artists Artists from California Irish contemporary artists Mexican contemporary artists People from San Francisco People from Galway (city) California College of the Arts alumni Alumni of the University of Galway Year of birth missing (living people)