Jam Sutton & Harvey Nics Get Artistic

Caviar Content polymath Jam Sutton has a piece of artwork on display at Harvey Nichols this festive period, a piece that takes an image from his clothing line, This is Not Clothing.

The six-by-two metre artwork, called Liberty, conveys a message about today’s consumerist society, the uprising of corporations and the empowerment of the consumer through the freedom of purchase.

Below, Sutton discusses the piece of work and his multi-disciplined output.

Tell us a little bit about the Liberty project, what it is and how it came to be.

Liberty is a homage to Eugène Delacroix’s painting La Liberté guidant le people, commemorating the French Revolution of 1830. Delacroix’s painting is considered to be an anti-monarchist painting, I wanted to create a homage to this, but focusing on modern society.

The image is taken from your clothing line, This Is Not Clothing; again, what’s the story behind that and how/when did you get into fashion design?

Liberty was created as part of my second collection for This Is Not Clothing. The entire series deals with concepts of wealth, consumerism and idealism.  The creation of the fashion brand is a way of exhibiting my artwork as a wearable canvas, inspired by classical artwork and history. I've been working on my clothing brand for over two years; it's breathed an exciting new life into the way I work.

The installation seems, in comparison to a lot of other things at this time of year, quite un-Christmassy; was that a planned move by Harvey Nichols?

I’m not sure if that was a deliberate move from Harvey Nichols, however they have been a great support to my collections and artwork over the past year. They allowed me to create a custom print to fit the wall in the contemporary menswear section, alongside my clothing brand.

I wanted Liberty to be installed there. The consumerist symbolism makes it a perfect fit within the retail environment, as Andy Warhol once said, all department stores will become museums, and all museums will become department stores.

The work is exploring consumerism “in a Warholian manner”; can you expand on what that means?

Andy Warhol loved pushing the boundaries between high art and consumer art. Even the art world today sees ‘consumerism’ as a taboo, I feel – why not embrace it? Warhol embraced it and managed to break down the rules of the contemporary art scene in New York. Why not celebrate consumerism?

Liberty is a marriage of classical ideologies and our modern consumerist society. It's victorious but also doomed, creating a parallel between the positives and negatives of consumerism.

You work in a number of disciplines – design, photography, directing – was it always the plan to be able to move seamlessly between different artistic endeavours?

It’s been a natural evolution. I wanted to be a painter, then found a passion for the design world, this evolved into a love for photography and moving image. I think my work today is heavily influenced by my design and fine art background.

Do you think being known for – and being successful at - a variety of things can sometimes be a hindrance as well as a help in career terms?  

It depends how you do it, and on the work. I feel my still and moving imagery is almost the same thing. I approach things very similarly. My work has an aesthetic that flows through everything I do, so I don’t feel like I do too many different things.

Do you think you will concentrate on any one area or will you always look to be agile in your creative output?

I think it’s good to have a wide knowledge of creative avenues; it stops you getting bored and keeps your work evolving and growing. I think I will always be experimenting with different areas, continuing to push forward.

What are you working on next?

Right now I’m working on my new collection for This Is Not Clothing which will be launching next year. Each collection takes around three months to complete, from conceptualisation to realisation.

Liberty is on display in Harvey Nichols Knightsbridge until the end of January 2014.