Jonathan Armour

Studio 88 is pleased to introduce London-based Irish artist Jonathan Armour, who is joining us at Gender-Fluid Artist Residency in May-June 2024. Learn more about his work here!

Jonathan (he/him) is an Irish artist based in London, blending Engineering and Fine Art. His work, a fusion of oil painting and time-based digital media, aims to make pixels more visceral. His focus is on the body and human condition, particularly the skin—a bridge between the inner self and the external world. Through digital collaborations, he explores the essence of individuals, celebrating ‘non-normative’ bodies and investigating the human form in diverse, abstract ways.

His idea for the Gender-Fluid residency is to use texture maps of real people, printed onto silk and made into garments to be worn. Jonathan writes:

“This would form the basis of a collaboration, hopefully with Golf, to create a choreographed sequence of movement which would utilise the flowing silk garments, and emphasis the imagery on the silk. Perhaps this would be based on the movement created when ‘whirling dervishes’ dance.

The aim is to explore external feeling of gender of identity, in conversation with the performer beneath the garment. These silks can be revolving and changing, just as we can have evolving feelings about our own identities.

There is also the possibility that I may produce new digital work in response to the Gender Fluid theme. I am currently problem solving to combine animation and cloth simulation for new works.

I see the skin as an interface between the person and the world around us.

Historically the flaying of the human body resulted in the death of the person. We’re not used to seeing the body fragmented in these ways. However the digital nature of our operation gives permission to step away from the association with death and the tradition of removing the skin in one piece. Instead it has become a celebration of the lives of these mature sleeve donors whose skin has witnessed and recorded their lives.

This would be the first time I had the opportunity to collaborate with a choreographer, bring my textile works to live with movement.”