Jamie Shovlin (born 1978) is a British

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 aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

. He staged his first exhibition in 2004, at Riflemaker in London, basing it on what he claimed were the drawings of a disappeared schoolgirl called Naomi V. Jelish. He supported this claim with newspaper cuttings and diaries, and the work was bought for £25,000 by

Charles Saatchi Charles Saatchi (; ar, تشارلز ساعتجي; born 9 June 1943) is an Iraqi-British businessman and the co-founder, with his brother Maurice, of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi. The brothers led the business – the world's largest ...

. Saatchi only realised the work was a hoax halfway through the exhibition when he noticed that the girl's name, and that of her teacher John Ivesmail, were both anagrams of Jamie Shovlin. It is occasionally suggested that Saatchi bought the work believing that Jelish was real. Asked about this, Shovlin replied "He fully knew what was going on. But the more I think about it, the more it adds another layer to the piece." Commenting on the exhibition, Jamie said "I wouldn't call it a hoax. It's

misdirection Misdirection may refer to: * Misdirection (magic), a technique used when performing magic tricks * Misdirection, a technique used for the purpose of pickpocketing * Misdirection (pickleball), a deceptive strategy when hitting the ball * Counter t ...

rather than tricking people. As an

archetype The concept of an archetype (; ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, and literary analysis. An archetype can be any of the following: # a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main model that ...

of somebody from a difficult family, somebody like

Anne Frank Annelies Marie "Anne" Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – )Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new light on Anne Fra ...

who did something normal in abnormal times, she has, I am sure, existed." In 2006 Shovlin created another exhibition based on the memorabilia of a non-existent

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on div ...

band called Lustfaust. This hoax was again supported with a network of websites Shovlin had created and prompted the cultural critic

Waldemar Januszczak Waldemar Januszczak (born 12 January 1954) is an English art critic and television documentary producer and presenter. Formerly the art critic of ''The Guardian'', he took the same role at ''The Sunday Times'' in 1992, and has twice won the Cr ...

to tell his readers how the band had "cocked a notorious snook at the music industry in the late 1970s by giving away their music on blank cassettes and getting their fans to design their own covers." The collection (once exposed) was runner-up for the

Beck's Futures Beck's Futures was a British art prize founded by London's Institute of Contemporary Arts and sponsored by Beck's beer given to contemporary artists. Prior to the establishment of the prize in 2000, Beck's had sponsored several exhibitions of ...

prize. In September 2007 Lustfaust, together with Schneider T.M., gave a concert to help celebrate the opening of the new Berlin exhibition space for Haunch of Venison. Shovlin claims that the main function of his hoaxes was not simply to fool the audience, but rather to let them gradually realise that they were being tricked, and encourage them to question their preconceptions. To this end he included clues in the exhibitions, such as notes describing Lustfaust as steering "dangerously close to Spinal Tap-isms". A 2006 project by Shovlin was an archive of letters and writings titled Mike Harte - Make Art. This piece consisted of an ongoing mail correspondence during 2001 from the Mike Harte, a long-time friend and collaborator of Shovlin. Shovlin's work can be found in the following collections,

(Naomi V Jelish Project), Elspeth & Imogen Turner Collection (Lustfaust Memorabilia Collection, The Black Room Installation, The Ties That Bind Installation,

Fontana Modern Masters The Fontana Modern Masters was a series of pocket guides on writers, philosophers, and other thinkers and theorists who shaped the intellectual landscape of the twentieth century. The first five titles were published on 12 January 1970 by Fontana ...

and others), David Roberts (Fontana Modern Masters). Shovlin is represented by Haunch Of Venison (

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, Zurich,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

), Unosunove Gallery (

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

), Horton Gallery (

) and Cosmic Galerie (

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

References

External links

Horton Gallery Artist Page

Jamie Shovlin at Haunch of Venison

Jamie Shovlin, Naomi V Jelish, 2004

Jamie Shovlin, Lustfaust, 2006

Jamie Shovlin, In Search of Perfect Harmony, Tate Britain, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shovlin, Jamie 1978 births Living people British conceptual artists English contemporary artists 21st-century British artists 21st-century British male artists