Sid and Jim (b. Kent and Suffolk, UK) are a London based collaboration making artworks that materialise in many different forms. They have previously produced films, sculptures, paintings, and curated exhibitions which call attention to otherwise overlooked elements of our daily lives. Their work is often influenced by fictional tropes and recognisable motifs within popular culture. They use invisibility and absence to propose situations and start stories for the viewer to invent or complete, encouraging them to fill the gaps and build their own narrative.
Their recent projects range from researching undetectable cinematic storytelling devices including matte painting and cucolorises, to imagining alternative universes through investigations into what-ifs, such as what would the landscape of cinema look like if Europe had been the epicentre of blockbuster film making as opposed to America?
Selected solo and duo exhibitions include When Worlds Collide, Stable Gallery, Hampshire (2021); Never seen and yet believed in, Gallery DODO, Brighton (2021); You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, Darling, Queen's Hall Digital (2019); Hold a penny between your finger and thumb, SKELF (2017); Ad-Venture, The Vitrine Project, London (2017); Level Playing Field, The Wellness and Motivational Center, Leeds (2016).
Selected group exhibitions and projects include 10 Artists, 10 Bookmarks, fifthsyllable (2021), 1:1, WetDoveTail, Online (2020); 36th Annual Open, Southwark Park Galleries, London, UK (2020); The New Black, Void Collective, Online (2020); something is doing we don't know what, 65-66 Country Street, London, UK (2020); Any Second Now, Brixton Beneficiary, London, UK (2020); A Black and White Christmas, Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough, UK (2019); 24th Gabrovo Biennial of Humour and Satire in Art: Dimensions of Publicness, Museum of Humour and Satire, Gabrovo, BG (2019); Film as Idea, Film as Film, Film Art, Teatr Studio, Warsaw, PL (2019); The BF Artist Film Festival VIII, SET, London, UK (2019); The Age of New Babylon, The Lethaby Gallery, London, UK (2018); Reinventing the studio: how to survive as an artist in the metropolis, Tate Modern, London, UK (2018); An Exchange of Sorts, Castlefield Gallery, Manchester, UK (2017); Leeds Digital Festival, Leeds, UK (2017); Bad Video Art Festival, A3 Gallery, Moscow, RU (2017); A Show About The Show, Bankley Gallery, Manchester, UK (2017); A Group Thing, Thomas Young Gallery, Boston, USA (2016); God's Own Country, Western Park Museum, Sheffield, UK (2016); Temporary Allegiance, The Knockdown Center, New York, USA (2016).
In addition to their artistic practice they have also been producing a podcast called Artists and Friends since 2016, which is primarily for reviews of exhibitions both physical and digital, interviews of artists and curators, and discussing ideas. They have also run an online project called The SketchUp Residency since 2016, which is an online project where participating artists are asked to use 3D modelling software Google SketchUp for the duration of their term.
If you were looking to follow Jim and Sid's love story click >here<, or catch up with Jimmy and Sid's folk music career click >here<, apologies for any inconvenience caused.
Sid Jim
Founders of The SketchUp Residency, and the podcast Artists and Friends
Selected Solo/Duo Exhibitions/Projects
2024
Ljósrák - Kannski Gallery, Reykjavík - Duo Show with Helgi Vignir
2023
Fallout from a storm - Aseptic Studios, London
2022
Under Wraps (YZR M1) - Hillstreet Shopping Centre - Middlesbrough Art Weekender
When Worlds Collide - Brixton Beneficiary, London
2021
Never seen and yet believed in - Gallery DODO, Brighton - Duo Show with Scott Robertson
Strength - Platform Art Projects, Digital Commission
Origin Story - The PUBlic Window, Northumberland
Orbit Residency - Online
2019
You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, Darling - Queen's Hall Digital, Online
2017
Hold a penny between your finger and thumb - SKELF, Online
Ad-Venture - The Vitrine Project, London
2016
They' as opposed to 'he/she' - The Evie Evie Space, Istanbul
Level Playing Field - The Wellness and Motivational Centre, Leeds
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
DUMP02 - FILET, London
Blarvin's School of Sorcery - West Art Collective and Carnifølk - Antwerp Mansion, Manchester
Hot in here - Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London
Nectar - 50 Celebration Avenue, London
Shelf Life - hARTslane, London
Beginnings and Endings - Haus a rest, Online
Stolen Goods - FILET, London
2023
Let Them Eat Fake - Bad Art, Brushes with Greatness, London
Garage sale of upscale garbage - 1049 Willoughby Avenue, New York City
We are the witches - The House of Smalls, Edinburgh
Scary Biscuits - Crypt Gallery, London
Thin Red Lion - Hypha Farringdon, London
Gripe - Fringe Arts Bath, Bath
This is the House that Jack Built (Portable Relics) - No Man's Land, APT Gallery, London
Home Collection 2023 - Tethered Publics, Online
DOCUMENTS - Gallery DODO, Brighton
Everything Must Go! - Brixton Beneficiary, London
2022
The Art of the Football Scarf - OOF Gallery, London
The London Open: Artist Takeover - Whitechapel Gallery, London
Best of the BF Artist Film Festival - SET Dalston, London
Extremely Serious Group Show - 246 Stockwell Road, London
Hiding in Plain Sight - UK Mexican Arts Society, London
SAFA Gallery Presents... - SAFA Gallery, London
2021
New Tenants - Around the House, Online
2020
1:1 - WetDoveTail, Online
36th Annual Open - Southwark Park Galleries, London
The New Black - Void Collective, Online
something is doing we don't know what - 65-66 Country Street, London
Any Second Now - Brixton Beneficiary, London
2019
A Black and White Christmas - Pineapple Black, Middlesbrough
The Venice Vending Machine - Hamilton House Bristol
If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail - Phoenix Art Space, Brighton
24th Gabrovo Biennial of Humour and Satire in Art: Dimensions of Publicness - Museum of Humour and Satire, Gabrovo, Bulgaria
Staged on Screen, Tate Modern, London
S.E.L.F, Gibberish Brewpub, Liverpool
Film as Idea, Film as Film, Film Art - Teatr Studio, Warsaw
The BF Artist Film Festival VIII - SET, London
Co-op(t) - Unit 5, Coventry
The BF Artist Film Festival VIII - serf, Leeds
Self as Actor: Colonising Identity - NeMe, Cyprus
2018
The Age of New Babylon - Lethaby Gallery, London
a place for friends - Harts Lane Studios, London
South Harrow Contemporary (III) - London
The Video Art Film Club #1 - Leydon Gallery, London
101 Media poetry Festival - Russia
Degree Show One - Central Saint Martins, London
Bomb Factory Artist Film Festival Alumni Screening, Art Week Exeter - Exeter
Bad Video Art Festival - A3 Gallery, Moscow
Forced Collaboration - Online
Capsule Machine - Vandal/.
Leeds Digital Festival - Leeds
Testing, Testing - Central Saint Martins, London
SHIFT lecture series - Central Saint Martins London
Artists and Food - Elmer, London
Spillage - The Windows Gallery, London
AucArt - Central Saint Martins, London
Reinventing the studio: how to survive as an artist in the metropolis - Tate Modern, London
Word in Transit 3 - TFL, London
2017
The Morning After The Year Before - Platform 3, Leeds
Wednesday Night Live - 12ø, London
Antidote - Central Saint Martins, London
An Exchange of Sorts - Castlefield Gallery, Manchester
Talkies - Chelsea College of Art, London
Mutants - Baynes Street Arches, London
How about just calling them artists? - Central Saint Martins, London
Pre-Sliced Orange Segments - Light Eye Mind, London
Fountain, fountain... - Bury Art Museum and Sculpture Centre, Bury
Word in Transit 2 - TFL, London
South Harrow Contemporary (II) - London
Group Show Episode 3: Collaboration - Podcast
A Show About The Show - Scaffold Gallery, Manchester
Repost_Modern - omni_modern, Online
(TO THE HEART AND MIND) IGNORANCE IS KIND - The Hive, London
YOUR ART IS A LOAD OF S**T - The Old Tuman Brewery, London
Cancan Film Competition - LemoArt Gallery, Berlin
Location, location, location - The Old Courts, Wigan
Morguefest - Ladywell Coroner's Court & Mortuary, London
100 years of OUI - Undisclosed toilet, United Kingdom
print out - Double Yolk, Newcastle
Together as One - Rebooted, Leeds
Is this it? - serf, Leeds
Pedagogy as Artistic Practice - Light Eye Mind, London
eight, fourteen, seventeen - thirty.works, Online
Art Gallery Here, Art For All - Manchester
Word in Transit - TFL, London
We like to drink a lot - Central Saint Martins, London
ART + TEXT - 44AD artspace, Bath
How To Get Rich Quick - Scaffold Gallery, Manchester
An Art School - Tate Modern, London
2016
A Group Thing - Thomas Young Gallery, Boston
An evening with isthisit? - isthisit?, Suffolk
Pack it in - Vent, London
Destroy - Bow Arts Wapping Project Space, London
AFK - isthisit, London
3D/XD Open Studios - Central Saint Martins, London
The Bomb Factory Artists Film Festival II - The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London
Tight Fit: BIG SPACE IV - Central Saint Martins, London
Touch Me Baby - Bones and Pearl Gallery, London
2D/4D Open Studios - Central Saint Martins, London
FIRE + LIGHT - Walcot Street, Bath
Group Effort - Bones and Pearl Gallery, London
Shop Windows - Ofton Festival, Alfreton
Intimacy - Arch 12, London
ACTIVA' 2017 - international sound-videoArt, Online
Bedroom Artists - The Hive, London
Bought Objects - Voidoid Archive, Glasgow
30/30 - 12ø Project Space, London
So, what is it that you do exactly? - SLAM, London
I Exist - The Old Red Bus Station, Leeds
The Great Unanswered II - Scaffold Gallery, Terrace NQ, Manchester
God's Own Country - Western Park Museum, Sheffield
swimmers/secretkeepers - ArtsLav, London
Do you even vlog? - isthisit?, Online
Temporary Allegiance - The Knockdown Center, New York
Hashtags Unplugged - Caelum Gallery, New York
Collection 2 - The Listening Booth, Online
Day 9, Day 11, Day 14 - thirty.works, Online
Unseeing Red - Red Art 2 Mars Gallery, Calgary
People's Choice Salon Show - Green Point Gallery, New York
2015
Trading Places 1.0 - 12ø Project Space, London
2015 FWCAC 9 x 12 Works on Paper Show - Fort Worth Community Arts Centre, Texas
FESTIV_ALT - Wood Street, Wakefield
#15 - Peckham Platform, London
BIG SPACE - Central Saint Martins, London
Bring Your Own Beamer - Freight Art Gallery, Norwich
From Archway With Love - The Rag Factory, London
I'm so tired - Central Saint Martins, London
It's Been Fruitful! - Circus Street, Brighton
BACKWASH - Harts Lane Studios, London
2D/4D Open Studios - Central Saint Martins, London
because the internet - The Rag Factory, London
Selected Curatorial Projects
2019
This Way Up, The Wrong - New Digital Art Biennale, Online
2017
The 15 Cmdments - The Wrong - New Digital Art Biennale, Online
Add to Basket - Online
Pre-Sliced Orange Segments - Light Eye Mind, London
Sunrise Prelude - Dollspace, London
Red Handed - isthisit?, Online
2016
Digital Wasteland - Eiger Studios, Leeds
Residencies
2021
Orbit Residency - Online
2017
Art4u- Online
WUU2 MATE? - Online
The Old Courts - Manchester
Digital Artist's Residency - Online
Selected Publications
2023
101 contemporary artists and more...
2017
Issue 03 - isthisit? magazine
Issue 02 - isthisit? magazine
Issue 1 - CA Magazine
#1 - A5 Magazine
Issue 01 - isthisit? magazine
2016
Artists Behind the Art - Average Art Magazine
The Research Book Volume II - Scaffold Gallery
2015
30WORKS30DAYS - 12ø Collective
Selected Press
2018
Take Five - Central Saint Martins
Digital Artist of the Day - Leeds Digital Festival
2017
THE WRONG BIENNALE - Annka Kutlys Gallery
Talk and talk with Agil: Episode 3 - WUU2
A Show About The Show - Corridor 8
Location, location, location - Creative Unions
2016
Issue 23 - Art Reveal Magazine
A chat with Sid & Jim - Brooks & Groves
Don't make it harder than it has to be - Dimond Arts Gallery