“My art is, in essence, a soapbox for the subconscious mind,” says self-taught artist Jem Ham. Based by the beach in Fremantle, Western Australia, Jem works primarily on canvas, linen and paper. His imaginative surrealist scenes are populated by biomorphic forms, rendered with a precision usually reserved for digital work. Jem has exhibited both in Australia and internationally, maintaining a packed schedule of solo and group shows over the past few years. The artist’s list of accolades includes being named finalist in the Waverley Art Prize 2020, the Kennedy Art Prize 2021, the Minnawarra Art Awards 2022 and the Boynes Artist Award 9th Edition 2023. He also took out the prize for Best Painting at City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder Art Prize in 2021. Continuing on an upward trajectory, Jem’s work features in this year’s Art Lovers Australia Collector’s Edition Book, and he has most recently been shortlisted for the 2023 Claremont Art Awards.
Above: Jem Ham, The Seat of Perplexion, 2020. Acrylic on linen, 91.5 x 81cm. Courtesy: the artist.