Jamie McCartney (born 1975) is a professional artist working in many disciplines who lives in
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, England. Maintaining that the naked body is still a controversial subject, he is most famous for his ten-panelled wall sculpture ''The Great Wall of Vagina'', comprising plaster casts taken from 400 volunteers' genitals. Often using the body as inspiration he works with both traditional and novel materials and processes, he explores the human condition and themes of religion, sexuality and death.
Education and early career
Jamie McCartney trained at
Hartford Art School
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
(USA), graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Art summa cum laude in Experimental Studio Art in 1991. After graduation he returned to London where he worked for 4 years for antiques importer, David Wainwright, eventually becoming a buyer for him in India and Pakistan.
McCartney then took an HND in model making at Barking College and worked for several London model making companies such as Complete Fabrication and Gavin Lyndsey. He then set up a model making partnership, Gordon & McCartney, specialising in architectural and exhibition models as well as TV props and provided the art department for TV series "Renford Rejects". They also worked on the development of many of the
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...
zones, most significantly the Body Zone with designers HPICM and architects Branson Coates.
In early 1999 he left the partnership to establish a forge in Hackney, London to fulfill a public art commission he had won (a series of abstract farm animal sculptures in steel for
Egham
Egham ( ) is a university town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna ...
town centre, in Surrey). Later that year he again became involved in the Body Zone, helping to sculpt the interiors to resemble oversized body parts. This led to his move into the film industry, working as a sculptor and
prop
A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinc ...
maker. He was frequently employed by Special Effects UK and Asylum, working on films such as '' Black Hawk Down'', '' Charlotte Gray'' and ''
The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...
''. He also worked directly on films such as ''
Around the World in 80 Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
'', ''
V for Vendetta
''V for Vendetta'' is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing serial in the British antholog ...
'' and Casino Royale. His last film was '' Mein Fuhrer'' shot at Babelsberg studios in Berlin.
McCartney has exhibited work in numerous solo and group shows. He is the founder and the owner of Brighton Body Casting, a commercial
lifecasting
Lifecasting is the process of creating a three-dimensional copy of a living human body, through the use of molding and casting techniques.pedal-powered road car Car-Bon Miles at the UK’s first Art Car Parade.
In 2008, McCartney, based at JAG Gallery,
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, auctioned off a sculpture of a
death mask
A death mask is a likeness (typically in wax or plaster cast) of a person's face after their death, usually made by taking a cast or impression from the corpse. Death masks may be mementos of the dead, or be used for creation of portraits. It ...
of his father's face as part of the Men Only exhibition which raised £500 for
prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
charity Everyman. McCartney called the piece "After". He was quoted as saying,"I’d never done anything like this before, but I wanted to address how I was feeling after my father’s death and reflect it in my art".
''The Great Wall of Vagina'' comprises 400
plaster casts
A plaster cast is a copy made in plaster of another 3-dimensional form. The original from which the cast is taken may be a sculpture, building, a face, a pregnant belly, a fossil or other remains such as fresh or fossilised footprints – p ...
of women’s genitals arranged in ten panels; the polyptych spans nine meters in length. According to McCartney, the idea was sparked by the trend for the " designer vagina", where women resort to
cosmetic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
for a certain look. It was exhibited in Berlin in September 2008, and the following month in Brighton. (See
Vagina and vulva in art
The vagina and vulva have been depicted from prehistory onwards. Visual art forms representing the female genitals encompass two-dimensional (e.g. paintings) and three-dimensional (e.g. statuettes). As long ago as 35,000 years ago, people sculpte ...
.)
His collection "Skin Deep", first shown at The Hay Hill Gallery on London's
Cork Street
Cork Street is a street in Mayfair in the West End of London, England, with many contemporary art galleries, and was previously associated with the tailoring industry. It is part of the Burlington Estate, which was developed from the 18th centur ...
, focuses on notions of beauty and sexuality. His two photographic series "Physical Photography" and "The Sum of Our Parts", concentrate again on the human form, using a
document scanner
An image scanner—often abbreviated to just scanner—is a device that optically scans images, printed text, handwriting or an object and converts it to a digital image. Commonly used in offices are variations of the desktop ''flatbed scanner'' ...
to create a body image in abstract form. The artist refers to this as Neo-Cubism.
McCartney also creates more conceptual pieces. His ''Messages in Bottles'' relied on chance and the collaboration of strangers to bring to fruition. His experimental "Sculptography" collaboration with photographer, Miss Aniela, is a further example of his experimental work, as is his "Scanography" series. In addition he is frequently commissioned to create one-off designs of furniture etc. for business and private clients, with the help of a large team of student volunteers under his name.
Public artworks
*''Farm Animals'',
Egham
Egham ( ) is a university town in the Borough of Runnymede in Surrey, England, approximately west of central London. First settled in the Bronze Age, the town was under the control of Chertsey Abbey for much of the Middle Ages. In 1215, Magna ...
, UK, 1999
*''Car-bon-miles'', in the UK's first Art Car Parade, Manchester 2007