Ned James & the Swifts

Working as a fictional collective in collaboration with multiple artists the work of Ned James & the Swifts uses the methodology of art poesis. That is, poesis making as imitation; art about art about art is the best way to describe the work. Imitation and satire are constant themes with much of the actual making being in performance or written text pieces. Ned James & the Swifts employ other artists to do their bidding, they write performances to be run on instructions, famous historical texts are bastardized and they generally poke fun and saterise new systems of art making and organisations. Ned James the troop leader is a self confessed gambling addict and supports many of his project through short gains and occasional ‘lucky streaks.’ The rest of the troop or collective are known as the Swifts. The Swifts came together to share their interest in art and skateboarding. Ned James & the Swifts are influenced, among others, by John Heartfield and by extension Bob & Roberta Smith, Jonathan Swift, George Orwell and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.