James Cochran , also known as Jimmy C, is an Australian-born English artist best known for his urban narrative paintings and for his drip painting style.

Early career

In the late 1980s Cochran contributed to the development of the

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

scene in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

and went on to coordinate a number of community arts projects aimed at giving "aerosol art" a broader acceptance in the community, and to teach painting techniques to adolescents interested in the art form. In the 1990s he adopted the alias "Jimmy C", and become well known for his aerosol art murals and his work in city and regional communities across Australia.

Artistic development

After completing his arts degree in 1997 and then his Master of Visual Arts at the

University of South Australia The University of South Australia is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1991, it is the successor of the former South Australian Institute of Technology. Its main campuses along North Terrace are ...

in 2002, Cochran became known for his urban realist narrative paintings, painted in

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

, and often depicting the marginalised human subject in the context of the urban environment. He sometimes used religious or mythological

allegories As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory throughou ...

to illustrate the existential or spiritual plight of the contemporary subject in the city. His two interests in graffiti and oil painting converged in 2004, leading to the development of Cochran's signature aerosol pointillist style; portraits or urban landscapes painted entirely from blobs of spray paint. This technique developed into what he called the "drip paintings" and the "scribble paintings", composed of layers of coloured drips or energetic lines to form cityscapes and portraits.

2010s

Cochran has been based in London since 2012. In 2017, Cochran was appointed as one of three Fringe Ambassadors for the

Adelaide Fringe Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

. In 2018 he painted a mural in Wright Street,

Adelaide city centre Adelaide city centre () is the inner city locality of Adelaide, Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Adelaide l ...

, titled "The Portrait of Stephen Goldsmith" with Eizabeth Close, in honour of

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...

elder Stevie Goldsmith, who died in 2017.

External links

*
The Evening Standard, UK article

ABC News, Australian article

The Guardian, UK article

Mahoneys Catalogue
text by Chris Reid

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochran, James 1973 births Australian contemporary painters Living people Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom