Info.
b.1995, Scotland.
Currently living in New York City and studying at Hunter College with hopes to achieve an MFA in Studio Art.
My practice is connected to a personal interaction and investigation with the natural world. The initial inception begins around the concept of landscape - unity, balance, focal point and transitions, exploring the tension between conscious and subconscious interpretations of place and spaces. Through continually re-working intervals of space, rhythmic movement and perspective, my work critiques the human consumption of natural locations, while honouring the poetic everyday subject matter often overlooked, with the intention to augment the affects perceptual painting holds. Each work attempts to converse the momentary sublime rooted in the vastness of the natural world and is deeply dependent on the ontological experience.
Aspects of non-local colour placed alongside familiar hues are combined to celebrate the maximalism between actual and non-tangible spatial and pictorial scenes. The compositions truthfully merit the tyranny of the hand. Experiential moments that are depicted, act as chronologies layered across time and space, established on the surface in a non linear fashion suggesting a phenomenon, while bridging conscious and unconscious action. Scale and gesture is a continuing area of discovery for me and it is in this area that I try to challenge the accuracy of memory and explore ways of composing mood or atmosphere through non tangible events - like weather or deep time. Rich earth tones, natural pigments used to create a tangible connection to the source and frosty cool colours are combined, layered upon, erased and softened into the paintings surface to dissolve the figure-ground relationship. By fusing different energies within the works surface, I’m proposing the figure, ground, subject and process are all one cosmology.
The process involves extensive immersive explorations of place in order to learn and question the historical significance and various methods of tradition. The work manifests as paintings, written projects and sculptures that incorporate materials with literal and metaphorical symbolism forming meaning within the work and the decisions made. Many of the works hold journalistic tendencies that aim to intentionally defy logic through the distortion of reality, while taking narrative influences from both Scottish and local New York myth and folklore. Stories surround us and I believe the history of these narratives can be used as a alternative springboard for people to revaluate the way they engage with the natural environment in a particularly fragmented world.
Education
2022 - Current
MFA Studio Art, Hunter College, NYC
2021 - 2022
MFA Studio Art, San Francisco Art Institute
2015 - 2018
1st Class, BA (Hons) Painting & Printmaking, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow (UK)
2014-2015
HNC Contemporary Art Practise, Edinburgh College, Edinburgh (UK)
2013-2014
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Edinburgh College, Edinburgh (UK)
Awards
2022
Ruth Stanton Scholarship, Hunter MFA
Cadogan Award Recipient
Open Eye Gallery Award
2021
MFA Fellowship Award, San Francisco Art Institute
2019
Delphian Gallery Open Call 2019
HIX Award Finalist, HIX Art Gallery
2018
KCAW Youth Division x Vardaxoglou Prize Winner, Selected for solo exhibition in 2019, as part of the Kensington and Chelsea Art Weekend 2019.
Residencies
Structured Graduate Residency, Leith School of Art, 2019-2020
Publications/Press
2021
https://artmag.co.uk/jacob-littlejohn-at-rafiki-gallery-edinburgh/
21 For 2021, Artists & Illustrators Magazine, 01/21
2019
https://www.artpistol.co.uk/abstract-art-playfulness
2018
The Art Guide, Homes and Interiors Scotland, Issue 122, 11&12/18 Edition
Selected for Saatchi Gallery’s Annual Report of Emerging Artist’s, 09/18
https://www.saatchiart.com/invest-in-art
Selected for Friend of The Artist Vol.7 edition, 10/18
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Metamorphosis, Half Gallery - Annex Space, New York City, 06/04 - 06/05
2021
These Days, The Rafiki Gallery, Custom Lane, Leith, Edinburgh, 25-27/06
2020
Paper works, Arusha Gallery, 13A Dundas Street, Edinburgh, 5/05 – 31/052019
The Presentation of Self, Arusha Gallery, 13A Dundas Street Edinburgh, 19th/09 – 28th/09
Communication Out of Character, 24 Hour Window, The 13thNote, King Street, Glasgow, 29th/07– 29th/08
2018
Jacob Littlejohn Solo Show, Aberdeen, No.8 creative, Curated Stories Studio, 54 Claremont Street, Aberdeen, 14/9-21/09
Group Exhibitions
2023
Fresh Nature, Kutlesa Gallery, Switzerland, 14/07-12/08
Tales of Soil and Concrete, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, 13/07-12/08
White Columns Benefit Auction, White Columns Gallery, New York City, 18/05-01/06
Hawthorn and The Feast of Julian, Arusha Gallery, High Line Nine Galleries, New York City, 16-28/05
No Where, Hunter Open Studios, Hunter MFA Building, New York City, 04-05/03
Witheld, Hunter Open Studios, Hunter MFA Building, New York City, 04-05/03
Immersed, Organised by Jack Siebert, 526 N Western Ave, Los Angeles, 13-18/02
2022
North, Visual Art Scotland Members Exhibition, Inverness Creative Academy, Inverness 02/12-21/12
Littlejohn & McKenzie, Rafiki Gallery In partnership with Detail Framing, Edinburgh, 15/09 - 22/10
An Alien Show, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, Apr 22/04 - 03/05
Fragments, Fragmentation, & Fractures, Royal Glasgow Institute, Glasgow, 8/04 - 30/04
Between Artists: SFAI Alumni And Students Intersect, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, 13/04 - 13/05
The Wilding, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco 18/03 - 28/03
REVERB, VAS Annual Exhibition, Online Showcase, 19/03 - 29/042021
2021
Fragile Estates, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, 16-24/11
Its About Time, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, 02-12/11
Abstract Zeitgeist, The Biscuit Factory, Edinburgh, 10/09-12/09
2020
30 x 30 Online Edition, SSA Open Call, Online show, 27/11 – 20/12
Love in the Time of COVID, The Alchemy Experiment, 157 Byres Road, Glasgow, 30/10 – 30/11
For Scott & Kev, Group Pop up – Lockdown Show, Ltd Ink Corporation, Edinburgh, 12/06
On the Table, Marram Arts, Online Show 22/05 – 01/09
Open Window, Square Gallery, Online Show, 02/04 – 16/05
Above the Belt, Circus Art Space, Inverness, 24/01 - 02/02
London Art Fair 2020, with Arusha Gallery, Business Design Centre, London, 22/01 – 26/01
Borders Art Fair, Visual Arts Scotland, Borders Events Centre, Springwood Park, Kelso, Scotland, 13/03 – 15/03
2019
SSA | VAS Open 2019, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 22/12 - 30/01/20
Little Originals,Dock Street Studios, 7th– 28thDec
HIX Art Award,HIX Gallery, 32 Riving St, EC2A 3LX, London, 14thSep – 10thNov
Open call 2019, Delphian Gallery, The Print Space, London, 28/03-9/04
Shortlisted for BEERS Gallery, Contemporary Visions 2019, London 25/1
2018
Not Another Degree Show, Chelsea and Kensington Art Fair, 237 West Brompton Road, Chelsea, London, SW3 2ER, 27-29/07
Degree Show, The Glasgow School of Art, Tontine building, Trongate, Glasgow, 02-08/06
And Another Thing, New Glasgow Society, Glasgow, 06-06/04
2017
Series 3,The Glue Factory, Glasgow, 20/04
Material Girl, The Old Hairdressers & Stereo, Glasgow, 01/05
Anniversary, DOK Artist Space Steel Shed, Edinburgh, 26-28/05
2016
PAT TestedGrace & Clark Fyfe Gallery, Glasgow, 5-11/05
Let’s Limbo,SWG3, Glasgow, 26/05
25% EXTRA, Laurieston Arches, Glasgow, 10-12/06
WPS Opening, West Princess Street, 18/08
2015
*Nothing in Common, Argyle House, Edinburgh, 08/06
Office Party,By *Nothing in Common, Argyle House, Edinburgh, 12/06
2014
The Great Big Art Show,Edinburgh College, Edinburgh, UK, 07/06
Contact
jacoblittlejohn95@gmail.com
Phone
07557403423
415-430-7972
https://www.instagram.com/jacobalittlejohn/