Quick Facts
Biography
James R Ford is a contemporary British conceptual artist.
Work
Ford is an artist whose varied practice includes drawing, assemblage, installation and film. His observative projects often feature play, chance or repetition; being of an existential nature, contemplating life in the universe and how we spend time, using everyday materials and absurd scenarios.
"Performance of one kind or another is central to much of Ford's work; whether the performing body is the artist's own, that of a stand-in, or the audience themselves. In 2010 he staged an event where members of the public were invited to aid him in destroying his cursed Nissan Primera; another project bore the instructive title 33 things to do before you’re 10 (2007-2009) ; and an earlier work saw the invention of a new home based sport, House Gymnastics." (Lily Hacking, Curator, City Gallery Wellington, 2012)
Ford studied at Nottingham Trent University and Goldsmiths, University of London and currently lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand. Ford has exhibited widely throughout the UK, New Zealand and internationally, and in 2013 was winner of the inaugural Tui McLauchlan Emerging Artist's Award from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts. In 2012 Ford curated a national touring exhibition of contemporary male artists based in NZ, entitled Never Mind the Pollocks, featuring creatives including Bill Culbert.