| ARTIST BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | Jim Brodie is a painter and printmaker, now living in Australia. He earned a BFA from what is now Concordia University of Edmonton in 1970, and in 1973 he accepted a position to teach serigraphy at the then-Alberta College of Art in Calgary. In 1977 he continued with a Master’s degree in printmaking from Central Washington State University. Since making the move to Australia in 1982, he has taught printmaking at various institutions in Brisbane, including the Queensland College of Art, and at the University of Tasmania. He also pursued a second Master’s degree in digital technologies from Brisbane (1999) and earned subsequent diplomas in graphic design and in new media.
Brodie uses lithography and mixed media techniques, digital manipulation of photographs, screen-prints and photo- or electronic collage. His work also encompasses a combination of communication media such as billboards, posters, pulp-magazine art, television and film clips, from the past as well as the present. He may use archival inks and paper or combine photo-processes with traditional print-making. Many of his works are figurative, but convey social commentary on contemporary issues, such as greed and hypocrisy, the exploitation of the environment or the treatment of migrants or minority groups.
He has served as Artist in Residence and taught print-making and graphic design in various art institutions in Australia. He has also held solo exhibitions in various galleries throughout Brisbane, Sydney and Tasmania.
His etching and screen-print, Pipeline Anatomy #1 (1977), was featured in a retrospective exhibit, Made in Calgary: The 1970s, held in 2013 at Calgary’s Glenbow Museum. It forms part of curator Mary-Beth Laviolette’s book, Made in Calgary: An Exploration of Art from the 1960s to the 2000s, published by the Glenbow in 2016. |