Jim Avignon

Intermedial, Painting

Jim Avignon, born in 1968 in Sweden, begins to paint and exhibit his work in clubs and bars in the late 1980s as an avid self-taught. He seeks closeness to the music and designes stage sets for among others Dee-Lite, Gang Starr and many more. In the following years Avignon works on the streets: in 1990 he rents 40 billboards in Berlin to paint great posters. Avignon starts with large space installations like 'beauty of truth' in Frankfurt, where he assembled 200 television sets with self-made images to a large installation. In the first half of the 1990s, he built large factory space installations and since then is working to represent complex situations with a few strokes. His theme is the human with his search after the blessing in disguise. His tight stroke, borrowed from the visual language of comics, his bright colors and his very distinctive handwriting made him known quickly outside of the art scene.

With the slogan ' destroy art galleries' Avignon appears uninvited at the documenta Kassel in 1992 to paint a big picture and destroy it in the evening each day (for three weeks). At the same time Avignon begins to take admission to his exhibitions and to give away the works. In 1993 he developped a gigantic walk-in brain with 'secrets of life' in an empty House. In 1994 he presents with 'the 21 century' a Museum of the future.

The first CD by the artist "Music for children" under the name Neoangin was produced in self-publishing and appeared as CD supplement of the magazine "shift" in 1996. A small part of this is offered with another cover at concerts. "Music for children" is made without vocals, Neoangin needs just 70 minutes in the Studio for recording it.

Jim Avignon sees himself as an outsider in the art world, which he can't take seriously with its elitist posturing. He paints rapidly and his images are favourable and not aligned to eternity. His critical art market ambition and his aim to wear his unconventional art and music even in the most remote corners of society and the world, put his meanwhile extensive oevre intellectually close to the Fluxus Movement.