- Naomi V. Jelish
-
Naomi V. Jelish was a fictional schoolgirl and artist created by the British artist Jamie Shovlin for a 2004 exhibition.
According to Shovlin, Jelish had disappeared with her family in 1991, aged 13, a year after her father and brother accidentally drowned. Her teacher, John Ivesmail had kept a collection of her remarkable drawings, which he entrusted to Shovlin before he died in 2002. Shovlin exhibited her works at the Riflemaker Gallery in London, along with newspaper cuttings documenting her tragic life, and her diaries.[1]
In fact, Naomi V. Jelish had never existed and all the material had been created by Jamie Shovlin himself. He had provided clues to the fictional nature of the work, such as giving both Jelish and her teacher names which were anagrams of his own. Commenting on the exhibition he said "I wouldn't call it a hoax. It's misdirection rather than tricking people. As an archetype of somebody from a difficult family, somebody like Anne Frank who did something normal in abnormal times, she has, I am sure, existed."[2]
Jelish's work was subsequently bought by the art collector Charles Saatchi for £25,000. It is occasionally suggested that Saatchi bought the work believing that Jelish was real. Asked about this, Shovlin replied "He fully knew what was going on. But the more I think about it, the more it adds another layer to the piece."[3]
Jamie Shovlin went on to create another hoax exhibition based on the non-existent band Lustfaust which fooled a notable art critic and won him second place in the Beck's Futures prize in 2006.
References
- ^ Whitworth, Damian (2007-06-23). "Jamie Shovlin: A Dream Deferred at Haunch of Venison". The Times. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article1955829.ece. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
- ^ "Forging ahead". The Guardian. 2004-07-10. http://arts.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1258210,00.html. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
- ^ Jones, Alice (2006-05-01). "It's only mock 'n' roll but we like it". The Independent. http://arts.independent.co.uk/music/features/article361157.ece. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
External links
Categories:- British artists
- Nonexistent people
- Hoaxes in the United Kingdom
- 2004 hoaxes
- 2004 in the United Kingdom
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