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Making of Gallery 13, 10th August 2002 at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery 2003

Background

Jonathan Shaw is currently principal lecturer, lens based media within the School of Art & Design at Coventry University. He studied photography, graphic design and computer graphics at the University of the West of England between 1990 and 1996 and then completed a Masters degree at the University of Central England in 1997. During this time he developed a fascination with the conceptual, theoretical and mechanical relationships which exist between time, movement and the still image.

Shaw developed specific technological solutions to explore the themes of time and motion by building his own mechanically driven cameras and enlargers. These enabled him to escape the physical limitations of the studio and capture, create and reveal new expressions of time and motion, photographing his subjects with and in relationship to their environments.

In 2003 Time|Motion published by Dewi Lewis placed Shaw’s work alongside the photographic pioneers Eadweard Muybridge and Harold Edgerton. Then in 2004 he was nominated for prestigious Paul Hamlyn Award.

Shaw’s work can be found in the collections of Arts Council of England, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and Birmingham Central Library Photographic Archive, as well as various private collections.

Commissioned work includes:

Pieces for Volkswagen UK, the Manhattan Loft Corporation, and Nigel Coates’ book Guide to Ecstacity published by Laurence King Publishing. His work has been shown at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Penny School Gallery as part of the Muybridge Centenary celebrations in Kingston upon Thames, Lanchester Gallery (Coventry), F-Stop Media (Bath) and at the Howard Gardens Gallery as part of the the International Festival of Contemporary Time Based Arts, Cardiff.

Recent Work:

Shaw has moved on from mechanical cameras to create work with new media platforms. However, even here he has been forced to adapt and customise existing software to enable him to push his work forward. Whilst the central issues of his work have remained constant, he continues to find new and fruitful ways of creating distinctive and fascinating images.