The Power of the Past

Born in 1964, Jonathan Armstrong is an artist, print maker and sculptor, graduating with a Fine Art Degree at Newcastle Polytechnic in the mid 1980’s, focusing on sculpture, before returning to art education under Programme Leader and artist Nick Steward to complete his Masters Degree in Fine Art at Winchester School of Art in 2020.

Influenced by Doris Salcedo, Jannis Kounellis, Ellsworth Kelly, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg with his notion of the ready made or “Gifts from the Streets”, as Rauschenberg called it, in making art. Old newspaper articles, abandoned furniture and domestic relics become charged with significance and saturated with meaning in Armstrong’s art. The unwanted, redundant and obsolete have become his obsession, like fragments of time, measured, catalogued and immortalised. His prints, collages and schematic assemblages transform these obsolescent items into poignant and commanding testimonies of loss and remembrance. By cataloguing the things we throw away, Armstrong hopes to draw attention to the environment we live, while asking the viewer to reconstruct stories, sparking memories that question the fragility of their own life.

EDUCATION

Master of Arts in Fine Art - University of Southampton (Winchester School of Art)

BA (Hons) Fine Art Sculpture - Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic

Diploma in Art & Design - Hounslow Borough College

City & Guilds Level 3 Award in Education and Training (6502) - City Literacy Institute

EXHIBITIONS & COLLABORATIONS

2024, The Other Art Fair, Winter Edition. The Truman Brewery, London

2024, The Directors Cut. Woolwich Contemporary Art Fair, London

2024, Rejects Art Exhibition. Stokey Pop Up, London

2024, The Other Art Fair, Spring Edition. The Truman Brewery, London

2023, The Other Art Fair, Summer Edition. King’s Cross, London

2022, Dead Memories - book collaboration with art photographer Amber Franks

2022, New River Studios. Fashion Is Art - The Exhibition

2021, Willesden Gallery. Restore, Renew, Re imagine Group Show

2021, Art number 23. New Era Online Group Exhibition

2020, Kings House. Online Competition & Exhibition

2020, MA Final Show. Winchester School of Art

2020, MABA Show. Winchester School of Art

2019, LIFT. New art by BA & MA Fine Art students. Winchester School of Art

1987, The Group Show. Riverside Studios, Hammersmith

1986, BA Degree Show. Newcastle Upon Tyne Polytechnic

ACHIEVEMENTS & AWARDS

ActionSpace, Volunteer 2019 & 2021

Working on various projects and activities supporting people with learning disabilities to engage with the visual arts, including TUBELINES an exhibition of interactive installations at Tate Modern and the exhibitions poster design.
Assisting Andrew Omoding’s residency at the Barbican Arts Group Trust June - July 2021.

Passing it on 2014 - 2018

‘Turning a concept into a 360˚ campaign’, ‘The Creative Process’ & ‘Brand Identity’ lectures and work shops for the Fashion Communication & Promotion students at NTU and the BA (Hons) Graphic Branding & Identity students at UAL.

Pentland Chairman’s Award 2012

Ellesse, Robert McGinnis ‘Sports Della Vita’ global brand campaign.

Topman Employee Award 2001

Art directing the ‘East Meets West’ brand campaign 2000.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Jon Whitaker and Graham Pearson for photographing the ‘Memory Project.’

www.jonwhitaker.com/personal

www.graham-pearson.com

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BARTHES, R. Camera lucida

BAZIN, A. Ontology of the photographic image

BERGER, J. Portraits

BERGER, J. The Seventh Man

DICKERMAN, L. Robert Rauschenberg

The “copyright” of artwork on this website with “fair use” is the property of Jonathan Armstong and may not be copied, distributed or commercially exploited, nor may they be transmitted or stored on any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system, except with his express written permission.

Registered as: Jonathan Armsrtrong Design Limited. Company No: 09198924

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