A multi-talented avant-garde artist, Jimmy Grima’s work is diverse, he will leave no stone unturned within the realm of art. The world is his oyster and there are no boundaries that will prevent his work from progressing. As well as being a talented illustrator, Jimmy is the artistic director of a group named the rubber bodies collective.
This is a collaboration of multi disciplinary artists that have joined forces to create an eclectic mix of art and performance. Their productions and artistic visions are based around our cultural heritage. Through extensive research and investigation into society as a whole they produce work that allows us to embrace and fertilise our identities both as a country and as individuals.
At age 7 Jimmy was playing the piano followed by the saxophone and eventually at 14 he found himself in theatre, a world that he fit right into. Drama school became his second home and later in life he was enrolled at what he describes as a luna park for artists, the Darlington college of art, where he studied theatre and digital art.
Jimmy uses his art as a form of escapism, and through this has become a superb story- teller, this is the essence of all of his work and is the main parallel between his line drawings and the collective. Jimmy lives by a quote from Charlie Chaplin, – the secret to a good movie is story story story; communicating with the audience, be it a crowd at a performance or just an individual admiring a drawing, is paramount to the success of its understanding and meaning. As Jimmy puts it, the currency in the arts is the audience. He agrees that archetypal subjects can be interpreted individually however when it comes to theatre production, the concept has to be convincing and evident to get the message across.
His pen on paper, or line drawings are created spontaneously, a preconceived idea born from some form of inspiration unfolds into an image as his hand explores its way around the paper; the detail in his work is intense. As one would with a diary, Jimmy uses his illustrations as a form of reflection of his life.
Through hard work and determination, and a growing support network Jimmy has in recent years successfully brought many of his dreams to fruition, however the one project that is still at the top of his list is to run his own editorial through the collective. He feels that current institutions are restricted, and would love to manage his work without limitations.
The rubber bodies collective have also worked tirelessly, alongside the majority of local cultural institutions, and are slowly starting to reap the benefits. They have two upcoming events, the first, a groundbreaking solo dance-theatre performance in collaboration with European based dancer and choreographer Athanasia Kanelloupoulou, and the second a silent electronic music concert collaboration with Lyon based sound-artist Vincent Villius at Hagar Qim Temples; no doubt both of which will be nothing short of extraordinary.
You can contact Jimmy at www.jimmygrima.com or for further information on the collective you can visit www.rubber-bodies.com
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