James Jessop began his artistic adventures aged eleven
drawing graffiti on the streets, transforming his A4 sketches at
school, all to the tune of hip hop and practising breakdancing. He
tells us in 1986 he was given a copy of the now famous 'Subway Art
(1984)' and “became obsessed with the graffiti murals painted on
the subway trains of New York.” He still has the “subway token from
the first time I went to New York in 1985,” and it is still
attached to the set of keys he carries around with
him. New York holds a special place in his
heart, he has since been about 10 times and “would not have got
into art so much if I had not seen the train graffiti, the painting
of big characters, so bold and raw.” A whole genre of artistic
expression is based upon spray paint graffiti styles and Jessop
tells us about the inspirational Blade who was “this crazy
character making up amazing stuff in his head” who was “very much
into James Brown”, whereas “people like 'Seen' were into Black
Sabbath.” Of the adoption in the UK, “over here, we got the whole
package deal later on in the mid 80s, rapping, break dancing and
the emergence of spraying.” There is also a traditional background,
having trained at The Royal College of Art and Coventry University,
more recently giving lectures at City and Guilds of London Art
School. He now mainly works on large scale canvasses with oil
paint, mocking Spoof Horror B-Movie posters from the 70s, with a
commercial breakthrough coming from exhibiting in Charles Saatchi's
March 2004 infamous New Blood exhibition. He tells us that
“painting in the studio and working outside feed of each other,”
and he now has a recognisable style that he endeavours to “keep
raw.” At the ‘Follow Your Art - Street Art
Against Slavery’ event presented by Anti-Slavery International, at
which Jessop had donated a painting (Raising Hell, 2011) for the
auction, we saw an edit of the ongoing film project ‘DOTS’ by
Dscreet, which looks at the roots of graffiti and street art with a
focus on the notoriously influential book Subway Art (1984) and
examines the ephemeral nature of the street art phenomenon and its
role in the art world. James Jessop was among those interviewed in
the short film, following him as he exuberantly tours the
Bronx with his graffiti hero Blade and the photographer Martha
Cooper, seeing some of the iconic locations and using the imagery
for a serious of paintings. Others featured in the short film were
Eine, Miss Van, Os Gemeos, Blade, Futura, Conor Harrington, Dabs
Myla, Lister, Ron English and Kid Acne. In the painting 'Raising
Hell, 2011' we learn James ascribes his own meaning to the
reworking of various characters from 1950s horror comics and B
movies, redefining it with vibrant and bold brushwork that is said
to also be a 'nod' towards earlier writers like Staff 161 and
Caine.
There is a rebellious nature to Graffiti, which is exciting
and is “what attracted me” to the sub-culture and has “grown to be
a big part of cultural heritage.” Much has changed since “West
London in my early teens, Royal Oak, Westbourne Park, Covent Garden
was where it emerged at first over here”, then it all moved. “Im 38
years old now and have done a few things over the years which stand
out personally, if outdoors, my favourite wall was with Dscreet in
Miami at Primary Flight 2010. Even more so as Martha Cooper
photographed that wall in Miami and it was 100% aerosol, no paint
and is in Graffiti 365 by *J SON*. Right now, I would say although
I have moved more into painting and work on canvas, I respect
illegal work more, especially when it is done with a clever
theme.” Jessop, at the time of writing in April,
has just finished Black Panther, a powerful image and has “started
a huge 2m by 3m canvas in collaboration with Keith Baugh”, using
some imagery from his book, New York Subway Graffiti 73 and 75.
He has a copy of the book and shows a few of the photos,
which are quite “raw, vintage and will be working from shots like
these.” Graffiti has always been a “driving influence” for Jessop
and as long as there is a blank wall, there is acanvas for the art form.