{"id":1416,"date":"2020-06-06T12:40:55","date_gmt":"2020-06-06T12:40:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/?p=1416"},"modified":"2020-07-19T11:47:11","modified_gmt":"2020-07-19T11:47:11","slug":"james-ashe-do-the-strand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/?p=1416","title":{"rendered":"James Ashe: Do The Strand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The revolution will be visualised. Sodomy will be saved from Ulster. The Tayto Man from the Republic will shake hands with his Cheese & Onion enemy across the border. A big gay rainbow will erupt from the Stormont Assembly. And the special, neglected buildings of Belfast will defy the rapacious developers \u2013 glowing with an alternative, civic love.<\/p>\n

So much of this is possible and James Ashe is the artist that\u2019s inking the deal. Based at The 343<\/a> collective in east Belfast, his work is pithy, playful and unexpected. He subverts the dour fundamentalism of the north, making counter- manifestos and critiques. \u2018Ulster Says I Do\u2019 is the keynote of a new equality that has bypassed the homophobes. \u2018Helicopter Season\u2019 is King Kong on a high-rise, north of the Lagan. \u2018Queer Side Of The Moon\u2019 is Pink Floyd through a Constructivist prism. James honours the spirit of Lyra McKee and distains the bores and their laws.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s hardly a surprise to learn that he admires the designs of Jamie Reid, who schooled those Sex Pistols record buyers with punk surprise and Situationist d\u00e9tournement<\/em>. He also talks fondly of Barbara Kruger, upending the consumer lexicon and Keith Haring, who applied immense style to New York\u2019s counter-culture and railed against the HIV virus that killed him prematurely.<\/p>\n

\u201cArt can be a tool for change,\u201d James declares. \u201cAnd for mental health awareness as well. Music and artwork go hand in hand with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

He studied at Norwich Art College, but was resistant to the tutors who advised that he should either go corporate or immerse himself fully into fine art.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

James Ashe by Stuart Bailie<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve noticed with universities \u2013 especially arts universities \u2013 is that you\u2019re never taught to build your own identity. I had to do that when I graduated. I found that universities are getting very cookie cutter. It\u2019s all the same work, the same briefs. I\u2019ve been messed around a lot, by design agencies and studios. So I decided, I\u2019m gonna do my own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(full interview in Issue 1 of Dig With It magazine. Buy the magazine here<\/a>. More info on James Ashe prints here<\/a>)
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Stuart Bailie<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The revolution will be visualised. Sodomy will be saved from Ulster. The Tayto Man from the Republic will shake hands with his Cheese & Onion enemy across the border. A big gay rainbow will erupt from the Stormont Assembly. And the special, neglected buildings of Belfast will defy the rapacious developers \u2013 glowing with an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1416"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1448,"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1416\/revisions\/1448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.digwithit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}