Cornwall Contemporary: Congo Yonder, James Moir

This exhibition ends on the 15th August 2026.

James Moir is a man who will be instantly recognisable to many people in the UK, but with a different name, Vic Reeves.  It is also curious that even more people would recognise his artistic humorous style without having any clue he is also the popular Jim'll Paint It.  As Jim'll Paint It he sells his computer produced art on t-shirts and the like.

I find it really curious that he has these three identities and while he does not hide the connections, most people probably don't connect them all together.  I imagine it also really helped having a stage name to hang his fame on as he was building his name as an artist.  Of course, that would only have helped if he didn't meet people in person.

There is not doubt now that he is an established and desirable artist.  His skill as a comedian only adds to his art and makes it more desirable to people at this point in his career.  

I admit though, I often have issues with humour.  My brain just does not always fit in those grooves.  A lot of humour is just not funny to me, sometimes it's even uncomfortable and others it has to be explained, thereby losing it's funniness.  It does not mean that those comedians are not funny.  That said, Shooting Stars was a huge part of my early 20s especially.

So when it comes to his humorous art, some of it I get, some of it just whistles past me.  It is a little hit or miss.  Some of it I get, some of it is a struggle.  

The thing is with James, it isn't just his humour that makes his art, it is his skill.

So although some of the exhibition just was not really for me, it was very very much for other people.  The rest of the exhibition was, however, divine in my eye.

It's obvious he has a huge fascination with birds and his birds are lovely.  He does not have a pinned down style so his birds range from lovely realistic renderings to much looser.  There was a very modern Goldfinch and I must admit, I really love when he lets lose with colour.  He also had some very dark monochrome landscapes with birds gliding between trees and these are stunning too.

My absolute, absolute favourite though was the beetle colour wheel.  I really, really want it.  Every beetle was so finely detailed.  The range of colours was incredible and they fitted precisely in to the wheel.  I would much rather study this painting than a drawer of dead bugs, no matter how beautiful the insects.

There was even a sculpture...  And don't forget that Vic had a no. 1 single as well.  I don't know that many people would get away with exploring so many different things, but he does it all so well.  His character shines through.

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