Jim Avignon's Highway to Hello at Die Kunstagentin

A cartoon poet, speed painter, performer, designer and musician, Jim Avignon describes himself as a modern storyteller. A representative of the Cheap Art Movement, he is known for his unconventional handling of art, by which he stands out from the more career-orientated German art scene. His works express the complex relationships of our times by the simplest of means. Crafting a visual critique of society, he exposes everyday absurdities from business to love with an apt, sympathetic bite. The latest Jim Avignon art exhibition will soon be on view at Die Kunstagentin. In this latest body of work, the artist deals with the subject of the internet.

The Representative of the Cheap Art Movement

Obtaining his essential artistic concepts from the wide fields of art, music, media, and market and their tensions, Jim Avignon creates work that can be described as a mash-up of cartoon-like figuration, expressionistic composition, and dominantly placed titles. Bright colors, tart humor, unpretentious material and a dizzying output – these are all trademarks of Avignon’s art. Having a very clear idea about art, Avignon explains: “I’d rather sell a thousand images for one dollar, than one image for a thousand dollars.” One of the leading representatives of the Cheap Art Movement, Jim Avignon produces a lot in order to keep the price low. He can finish 200 large format pictures within only 3 weeks, and therefore the speed is one of his most valuable characteristics.

Highway to Hello

Issues from politics and society, art and pop culture are mixed with images from the world of fairy tales and fables in Avignon’s narrative structures, creating a stage for very different protagonists of figuration, cartoons, anime and fantasy world. In this latest body of work, Jim Avignon deals with the subject of the internet, staging it as a fun fair of attention. In these pieces, the Instagram-carousel turns incessantly, while likes are hammered at the Facebook-high striker. In this way, the artist points out the lingering changes that are induced by the internet and social media in a rather cheeky and ironic way. In order to describe how people often desperately attempt to keep up with the technological progress, the artist employs his recognizable black humor and self-mockery.

Jim Avignon Art Exhibition at Die Kunstagentin

Always seeking the confrontation with the establishment, Avignon rarely determines if he wants to be pop art or street art, Picasso on acid or simply the fastest painter in the world. The exhibition Highway to Hello will be on view at Die Kunstagentin in Cologne from June 17th until August 5th, 2017. The opening reception will be held on June 17th from 7 to 10 p.m. and the artist will be present.

Featured images: Jim Avignon - Heartbeat City Moment (detail); The Uninvited Guest (detail); Digital Footprints. All images courtesy of Die Kunstagentin.