Art In Mancunia: Jamie Kirk

It is no doubt, that a city as vibrant and diverse as Manchester would be filled with just as vibrant and diverse creatives. One that particularly stood out to me is Fine Art MA graduate at the Manchester School of Art, Jamie Kirk. Jamie was born and raised in London until he was 10 years old, and then moved to the south of France with his mother until he was 15.

After moving back to the UK, he spent two entire years living life as a self-proclaimed “hermit” doing absolutely nothing except for drawing.

Jamie’s artwork intertwines his life experiences with reminiscence, creating an initially obscure but fascinating visual. He sees beauty in otherwise mundane things, or if not beauty, then something that piques his interest and provokes another thought or an idea.

When stopping in the street to take a photo of some overflowing bins, or a patch of bark on a tree, he is very aware that he probably looks mad. However, he is always reassured that these things have stood out to him for a reason and that reason being art.

It may be safe to say that his artistic inspirations started to brew when he was young. His mum, who studied embroidery at university, would keep huge crates of cardboard tubes, cereal boxes and other usually disposable materials for Jamie to mess around and create with.

Art and creativity have always been important themes during Jamie’s upbringing and as he got older he got more out of these themes as he began to put more into it. Art began to take the form of therapy for him and it continues to do so.

I might be biased as I am a personal fan of Jamie Kirk’s artwork, but would I be lying if I said that his artwork has the potential of being recognised as that of Picasso, Andy Warhol or Edvard Munch?

If you’d like to check out Jamie Kirk’s artwork then follow him on instagram @jamiekirkartwork or visit his website.