Jack Warne: Blind at the age of four
Installation view “Blind at the Age of Four”, D/ARTS, London, 2023. Jack Warne, Curly Psuhes Reh Pram, 2023. Courtesy the artist & D/ARTS, London.
Jack Warne is a former BA Graphic and Media Design student, a graduate of MA Visual Communications at the Royal College of Art and the musician Gaunt. As a BA GMD student he was always innovative, inventive and keen to test the boundaries of what design could be. His final major project work saw him use music that generated 3D graphics textured with an analogue video synthesizer. His unconventional methods of working allowed him to move smoothly between design, music and art.
In September 2023 Jack Warne launched and perfomed a new album at the ICA in London and in the same month created a solo exhibition, both titled “Blind at the age of four”. The exhibition and album could be seen as one extended artwork, sounds from the album are played in the gallery space and large paintings became augmented reality audio visual work. The album of the same name also uses the cover artwork to transform into an augmented reality video.
Jack Warne’s work is “steeped in a multi-sensory surrealism that draws on his experiences of living with Thiel-Behnke Corneal Dystrophy, a rare eye condition, and which the title of his debut album Blind At The Age of Four refers to.” (crackmagazine.net). Jack’s paintings use a variety of unusual techniques, the huge surfaces incorporate foam, carpet, curtains – domestic materials that echo the subject matter of memories of family life. The imagery is taken from old family VHS videos, filmed by his late father, the final work is a blend of a specialist printing process, paint and AI, Warne describes this process as
Tearing images apart and putting them back together, how far can you reduce the signal and still tell what it is?
Each painting comes with its own augmented reality Instagram filter, activated by a QR code. Once activated the painting becomes motion and sound, video has been distorted, blended and distorted.
Find out more about the exhibition and album here:
https://www.3-o-n.com
https://www.ica.art/live/gaunt
Last week Warne created the cover of Review02 a French contemporary art magazine. He has used this opportunity to design a magazine cover that incorporates his artwork and augmented reality video work. The article focuses on the exhibition with @spiaggialibera.paris, Warne’s London show Blind at The Age Of Four, as well as the debut live performance at the ICA in London and a series of billboards Warne created to coincide with his London show. You can read the article here: zerodeux.fr/en/guests-en/jack-warne-2
On 18th of January Jack Warne will be exhibiting at Galerie Mai 36, Zurich, Switzerland as part of a group show.
Find out more about Jack Warne and his alter-ego Gaunt on his instagram
Installation view “Blind at the Age of Four”, D/ARTS, London, 2023. Jack Warne, Curly Psuhes Reh Pram, 2023. Courtesy the artist & D/ARTS, London.
Installation view “Alors je ferme les yeux”, Spiaggia Libera, Paris, 2023. Jack Warne, Illy Ils No Teh Toab, 2023. Courtesy the artist & Spiaggia Libera, Paris. Photo: Aurélien Mole.
On the 13 September 2023, GAUNT performed his debut live show/album “Blind at the Age of Four” at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in complete darkness. This setting was reminiscent of moments of Warne’s life growing up with a hereditary eye disease – Thiel-Behnke Corneal Dystrophy. A hereditary dystrophy he’s suffered since he was a child. This condition led to a young GAUNT spending weeks at a time in bed, in complete darkness. The performance used the ICA’s d&b soundscape sound system and was mixed by Loss_._Gain a leading spatial audio company that has been pushing the boundaries in this space with artists such as Hannah Peel, Jarvis Cocker, Anna Meredith, Duval Timothy, Gruff Rhys, Gazelle Twin, Lump, Oliver Coates, Sigur Rós, John Foxx, Rival Consoles, Jonsi & Alex, Luke Abbott, and Cosmo Sheldrake.