The sum of our parts – Jamie McCartney launches a show of his scanner art ** 9 Oct 2014 ** Ground Coffee Cafe, Hove
McCartney Show – Sum of our Parts 2014
Jamie McCartney -Goddess 2014
10 October 2014. Ground Coffee cafe in Hove was packed last night, for the launch of Jamie McCartney’s show “The Sum of Our Parts”, at Hove’s arty cafe, Ground Coffee.
Jamie showed large digital prints of his ‘scanner art’ as part of Brighton and Hove’s Photo Fringe festival (see Events in this blog for more info). Indeed, he has won a photographic award for this art. The prints are compositions of digital scans of parts of nude models’ bodies – foot, leg, buttock, breast, head etc. The scans of the parts are then joined together in a digital edit, to make the figure whole again.
Caravaggio Christ at the Column 1606
The prints do remind me of the photocopies we have all made of our own bodies at some time or other, but thoughtfully joined together and transformed into Art. This impression is enhanced by the strong contrast and light peach coloured bodies, reminiscent of Caravaggio’s chiaroscuro (or modelling with light) style of painting.
The slightly dismembered or disjointed appearance of the bodies brings to mind the surrealist dolls of Hans Bellmer.
Hans Bellmer – Dolls Game 1938
But unlike Bellmer’s work, which looks darkly at the ambivalence of the body, juxtaposing erotic perfection with discomforting deformity or decomposition, Jamie’s scanner art is pretty perfect. There are interesting references to mythology (bodies arranged into the figure of Christ and a swastika) and intriguing hints of the fetish club, but it feels safe, like good clean fun, closer to Helmut Newton’s glamour than Bellmer’s dark surrealism.
The chiaroscuro, the complementary colours, and an elegant sense of composition, in these prints is attractive. It’s the shape of the body in “Goddess”, and the way she is positioned in the bottom third of a dark canvas, that appeals. It feels like she floats serenely in a deep dark sea.
Alyessa Monks Press 2008
The body parts pressed up against the glass and distorted made me think of Alyssa Monks, a woman who paints the female nude (herself). Breasts pressed against the glass of a shower cubicle. Distorted, but the distortion only emphasises some quality of being, brings a sense of touch to the painting, becomes erotic. But not exploitative (of the model at least), for Alyssa succeeds in removing the viewer from the outside position of observer, invites us consider the sensation of the shower, while remaining behind the glass. She, the body-observed-become-artist, takes power. In Jamie’s show of scanner art, I feel the device of the scanner can only go to a certain depth. Or maybe it’s a distance imposed by the artist, who tells us he is concerned with the distinction between art and pornography. He delves into the realm of the body, but the stylised compositions remain tasteful, veiled. And our safety zone as observers remains intact. On the one hand this may account for Jamie’s commercial success (or so I hear), on the other, it may demand a deeper insight, something more visceral.
The notion that a utopian view of the body underlies Jamie’s art is underscored in Jamie’s fundraising poster for breast cancer, also on sale at the show (£10 with £2.50 going to breast cancer research). Intriguing and pretty rather than erotic, scores of breasts are pressed against the scanner glass in bras and nude versions. But nowhere to be seen is the post-op breast. There: there is the darkness; veiled.
Jamie is adventurous in both an artistic sense and a personal sense, and I for one will be following his journey with interest.
Below – photos of the event and the works on location.
More info on the event, show dates etc: http://wp.me/p488Yn-13F
Info on Brighton Photo Fringe Festival: http://wp.me/p488Yn-14J
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Sussex ArtBeat 
Lets focus on prevention research, in our battle against breast cancer.
During the talk to launch his art show, Jamie McCartney mentioned that he has produced a poster of hundreds of scans of women’s breasts in bras and without, and that £2.50 from each £10 from these posters goes to charity. Some people commented on this website that this was exploitative; Jamie counters that yes, he does enjoy bodies, and so do many other people, so why not raise money for charity, and public awareness at the same time.
But Jamie also mentioned something else that made me think. He mentions that he has chosen to support Breast Cancer UK because, he said, it is the only charity that campaigns to prevent breast cancer (rather than try to cure the cancer once started).
100 years ago breast cancer was unheard of. Now 1 in 8 women (and some men) will get it, one in 5 of these will die). So what is is about modern life that causes this cancer? It might be an uncomfortable answer – plastic bottles have come under suspicion, as have chemicals in under arm deodorants. But whether the subject is uncomfortable or not, we need to focus efforts on what is causing the cancer. What communities have less cancer? What are the lifestyle differences? And then lets play safe. If we suspect it, lets not eat it! This research will not be popular with industry, because industry does not want us to criticise what it is coaxing us to consume.
Well done Jamie for calling our attention to this. Even if you did find it enjoyable.
http://www.breastcanceruk.org.uk/reduce-your-risk
I participated in that project as a family friend was undergoing a double mastectomy at the time. It was a way to show my support for her. Jamie was wonderful, in addition to breast cancer he also works on charity projects for other conditions as well as promoting feminism & positive body images through his work.
He uses models who have volunteered and at no point did I or my friend feel exploited, objectified or coerced.
All in all I was proud to be part of it, I would recommend anyone levelling any accusations of exploitation to familiarise yourself with his work or better yet ask anyone involved how they felt. I got by buns out for the alzheimer’s society bake sales, I had no problem getting my baps out for breast cancer.