Jim Shebib
ARTIST BIO
Cape Breton born sculptor, painter and musician. Shebib grew up in rural Nova Scotia, near the city of Halifax. Shebib was involved in theatre and the arts and pursued an education at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design until 2003. During this period, he maintained an affiliation with practicing artists and participated in several curated exhibits.
After moving to St. John's in 2006, Shebib worked briefly with VANL and continued to study sculpture under Luben Boykov in the role of technician and apprentice.
Shebib began the Art Expo in 2017 with colleague Shane Dwyer to help promote the works of both unrepresented and under represented artists, primarily in the St. John's area. The expo was also inspired by hopes of bringing together artists with diverse creative backgrounds in a forum not tied to the limited gallery circuit.
Shebib is the parent of two children, and also works as an Art Teacher and mentor to youth and adults. After returning to complete a science degree in 2016, Shebib has been working to merge art with science as a freelance gardener and metalsmith.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work is an exploration of random processes in nature and art. Biological form, dimension and human behaviours, including cultural barriers and belief systems. The personal relationship of the artist to their medium as transference between the past, the present and the environment are often implied without taking precedence over what is in essence, natural about the piece.
The first step in my abstractions, begin with processes out of my control. Quite often the stimulus is my dreams and upon awakening, there is an impulse to engage with the emotions in my dream state and find form through that. Otherwise, I can directly use technology and medium to direct the random processes. The reason for this is because on a personal level I enjoy the risk associated with allowing the direction of the art work to mimic some collusion which exists in nature out of sheer chaos. But the act of allowing this to take place, to will something to be out of ones control is to offer the initial steps of entering the art work to be unconscious.
Whether digital or analogue, the inherent ability of the mind to create and rationalize from what it sees is partially responsible for creating the images as much as any system developed through working with the media to establish a composition and dialogue. I think that the ability of the mind to perceive what is whole and on the surface of an art work is also directly influenced with what transpires between the art and the unconscious mind.