About

Introduction

James R Ford (b. 1980) is a British conceptual and post-Internet artist whose work contemplates human needs and wants, absurdity in the everyday, and the search for meaning in art and life.

In 2020 writer Peter Dornauf said of Ford’s work:

“Ford’s oeuvre is a timely reminder that the role of art can still address, with a certain verve, age-old concerns that reach beyond the confines of the political. In a world where so much conceptual art is dead boring, Ford, with his wit, panache and mischievous intelligent practice, avoids that pitfall. He delivers.“

Ford studied at Nottingham Trent University and then Goldsmiths College in England. He currently lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand.

Works and themes

Ford is known for his looped short films, object assemblage, text statements and minimalist mark making. In 2013 Ford was winner of the inaugural Tui McLauchlan Emerging Artist’s Award from the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts.

Painting, drawing, text, objects, film & video.

Bogey Ball

Ford’s infamous Bogey Ball was created between 2002-2004. He was constantly collecting his mucus flakes in an eggcup and making them into a ball, in an attempt to create an egg-sized mass. Mucus is essentially comprised of dust and skin cells, so this work is actually a physical record of all the different places the artist has been and people he’s met. The work was originally displayed in a broken eggcup, within a glass case, with an accompanying printed story.

House Gymnastics

House Gymnastics was a sport created by Ford and Spencer Harrison in 2002. This fitness regime is akin to an indoor version of Parkour or an internet based, Fluxus “happening”, which encouraged maximum audience participation. The participant uses their surroundings in their house as apparatus. When someone performs House Gymnastics, the aim is to create human sculptures that last around 3 seconds.

Smash N Tag / Primera Disaster

In 2010 Ford was sold a second-hand car that broke down after five hours driving and went on to break down multiple times after the initial repairs that cost more than the car. After losing a court case to get his money back from the trader, and continuous mechanical problems, Ford decided to cut his losses and publicly destroy his cursed Nissan Primera.

On the 17th July 2010 a crowd gathered to assist with the destruction at an event called Smash N Tag. Ford provided safety gear, sledgehammers and spray paint, and there was the option to bring along your own weapon. Even on the day of its death, the curse of the car summoned rain. Participants donned hoods and brought weapons such as axes, bats and even an old Macintosh computer to attack he car with. Each volunteer had a minute to do whatever they wanted to the car, as long as it didn’t cause an explosion.

The result is a collaborative (anti-)sculpture formed by public, cathartic action; a punching bag of vented anger from those badly treated or misled by retailers and online traders; a sacrifice to the fair-trade gods.

A Tweet a Day

In this online artwork. Ford recited a Tove Jansson short story, in a social networking Jackanory-style, one word a day for eleven and a half years. After re-reading one of his favourite series of books from childhood, Ford found there was sub-text about escaping neuroticism in one of the tales. The irrational fear felt by the main character resonated with Ford’s tweet anxiety so he decided to recite the tale via his Twitter profile, thus also easing his own status update neurosis.

Video work

Video and short film appear sporadically in Ford’s practice. From a 52 minute of paint drying (Watching Paint Dry, 2014), to a 1 second loop of the artist twiddling his thumbs (Twiddling My Thumbs, 2014) to 8 minutes of a “Grinning Face With Sweat” emoji pillow spinning around in a tumble dryer (An Absurd Hero, 2019).

In 2015 Ford made the short video work The Enigma of Being. The film focuses on the futile behaviour of a fly that has strayed inside, repeatedly banging into a window pane. However, only a few centimetres away, is an open window. The buzzing and bumping continues for the duration, in a strangely mesmerising way, but the film ends before any resolution – did the fly escape or was it destined to follow the same behaviour until its demise (many a dead fly can be found directly under a window). Being and existence are perennial topics in metaphysical thought, as is the meaning of life. What if the answer was in reach and we just needed to change our thinking or perspective to find it, but we keep banging our heads over the same evidence or sense of reality, without looking for alternatives or other ways of seeing.

Sculpture and object assemblage

Ford has an interest in the re-use and assemblage of existing objects, in a similar way to Marcel Duchamp’s rreadymades. These have included toy cars, Rubik’s Cubes, vinyl records, and other household items.

In 2018 Ford made a work entitled Look Here, consisting of a wooden box with a hole, on a stand, along with an illuminated sign attached. Look Here employs a trompe-l’œil technique to fool and control the viewer. The illuminated arrow-sign draws them in and the use of a box implies that there is something inside if you get close enough to peer in. When the viewer realises that they are looking at a drawing of a hole, the most common response is to laugh at yourself for being tricked. In doing this action, other viewers in the vicinity assume that there is something funny in the box, and so the cycle continues. In a way it is a form of self-perpetuating fake news.

In 2022 Ford created the work The Dangling Carrot. True to its name, this work consists of a carrot dangling from a stick; life-size, cast from bronze and gilded with 22CT gold leaf. It uses word play of carrot/carat, and is a reference to the unhealthy desire for money and possessions that is embedded in us from an early age. In itself it is a shiny, desirable object, creating a dichotomy in appearance and intention.

Drawing

Drawing has always been present in Ford’s practice, most notably in his Scribble Fields series from 2008-2011, and his Finitude Drawings since 2023. Each Finitude drawing is a series of lines and marks created by an outdated, robotic vacuum cleaner. The robot has been hijacked, modified, and made to perform a task not fit for its intended purpose. The works are born from the idea of human finitude; our limits of time, space and ability. And how, throughout life, we metaphorically hit brick walls, back track, meander, and sometimes move in circles trying to figure things out. The naming convention of the series utalises gene symbols, and the genes referenced are all related to ageing, which in itself is a symbol for the natural finitude of human life.

Dot paintings

Since 2018 Ford has been creating simplistic dot paintings. The paintings in the Dots series have no obvious answer or interpretation, the viewer is free to choose. It’s human instinct to search for patterns, recognisable shapes, and formal figures within the abstraction; to impose a rational explanation. By searching for, finding or dismissing meaning in these works, the viewer is complicit in their function as an allusion to this complex part of the human condition.

Text-based work

Ford has created text-based work in varied forms since 1999. The works have been either painted, printed, stencilled, appliquéd in fabric, or sandblasted into glass. In 2023 Ford collaborated with designer Alistair McCready to create the custom typeface Blundell Protest for use in his textworks. The font draws inspiration from early nineteenth century newspaper headlines, advertising billboards and protest placards, tapping into elements pertinent to the delivery of the works.

Philosophical influences

Ford’s practice has always been intertwined with branches of philosophy concerned with what it is to be human, mainly Existentialism, Absurdism, and Phenomenology. The ideas of thinkers from these areas of philosophy are often referenced in the works. For example, Albert Camus’s “The Myth of Sisyphus” is the inspiration for Ford’s An Absurd Hero, where a “Grinning Face With Sweat” emoji cushion is put through endless cycles in a tumble dryer. Or text-paintings such as Biting Your Own Teeth and The Menu is Not the Meal, which present some of Alan Watt’s ideas on subjective perception.

Exhibitions

Ford has exhibited widely throughout the United Kingdom, New Zealand and internationally.

In 2021 his work was included in the exhibition All That Was Solid Melts at the Auckland Art Gallery, and in We’re Not Too Big to Care at the Gus Fisher Gallery, University of Auckland.

Selected exhibitions list

Public speaking

In 2023 Ford was a keynote speaker at Semi-Permanent Aotearoa 2023. His talk examined the experience of the experience: how individual perception is the bridge between what we experience and our interpretation of that experience. Inspired by his 2018 text-work The Thing Plus Your Mind, Ford spoke about contemporary art, design and philosophy, whilst unpicking his own artwork, as he discusses the balance and mis-matches of intent vs impact in design communication and user experience.