We are governed by systems designed to distract and divide, generations misguided and manipulated by the empty promises of modernity. In the belly of my work sits control: a largely unquestioned, often blind acceptance of authority, dressed in tradition, pomp and riches.
Within my work, I search for stress, tension and upset—byproducts of our alleged progress. I look for the decay of what we once were and the forgotten potential of what we should be.
At the heart of my practice lies a love of materiality: a poetic visual alchemy that lets me explore these concerns both playfully and critically. I squeeze and tear, canoodle and caress; we clash, rebuild and reconcile.
Provocative textures and manipulated pairings become raconteurs, echoing narratives of everyday struggle. Repeated elements—the overlooked and tossed-aside, the squeezed and the damaged—form a visual language that guides viewers through questions of power, control and complicity.
Following an established career in graphic design spanning 25 years, Cardiff-born Jamie Hamley (aka Sticky Jim) now turns his focus to his art practice, graduating in late 2025 with a Masters in Fine Art from Bath School of Art, Film and Media.
In 2010, as a means of understanding his own deep‑rooted anxieties, Hamley began researching mental health. As his research broadened, the rabbit hole deepened: information on the mechanics of the mind transitioned seamlessly into the physics of perceived reality, culminating in theories of mass control and manipulation.
Within these threads of research, patterns emerged and a mainstream narrative was exposed—one that many find uncomfortable.
To explore these patterns, Hamley began his art practice in 2014 as a private and solitary undertaking, enabling him to process and develop a methodology that opens a discourse on control and manipulation.
Originally focused on painting, with occasional forays into site-specific street art, Hamley has, during his recent time at Bath, entered a world in which the exploration of materiality and object is central to his practice-led research.
2024 -2025
Bath School of Art, Film and Media
Locksbrook Campus.
1998 - 2001
University of Wales Institute Cardiff (UWIC)
Western Avenue Campus.
Sept. 2025
Bath School of Art, Fiml and Media
MFA final year group show.
Dec. 2022
Solo show at the Tower Gallery, National Park Visitor Centre, St.Davids, Pembrokeshire.
Mar. 2020
Solo show at The Little Man Coffee Co. Bridge St., Cardiff.
Oct. 2018
Group show at SHIFT, Queen St., Cardiff.