Emma Drawing

Jai Gilchrist is an artist and a tattooist and home to the fictitious artist's collective known as The Curbar Ridge Association of Artists and Painters. Originally from Australia, she now lives and works in the East Midlands. As a tattooist she draws energy and inspiration from her clients, creating distinctive and individual works of art that reflect the unique nature of the client--tattooist relationship. As an artist she is interested in the nature of the creative process itself. Her practice involves the creation of artists as well as art. She has established a fictional collective of artists under the banner of the Curbar Ridge Association of Artists and Painters. Each artist that she ‘creates’ is designed to be perceived as an independent entity and has a distinct style, history and personality which are brought to life at private views and gallery evenings by actors carefully coached to offer authentic expression of the persona's aesthetic. This process of creating artists along with her artwork allows her to explore the world from different vantage points. By utilizing actors she opens up and shares this aspect of the creative process with the audience even as they remain unaware of the artworks true provenance. Her curation of performance, story and visual art enable her to establish a dialogue between the 'artists', the artwork and the audience. Each work of art attributed to one of her ‘artists’ is accompanied by a unique artifact from that artist, usually a diary entry written by that artist on one of the significant days from the creation of that artwork. Limited edition prints will each be similarly accompanied by specific diary entries, each one unique to that day and taken from that artist’s personal diary. Further inquiries about Jai’s process and the exact artifacts that accompany each work can be directed to Jai via Saatchi Art