Wrestling With The Surreal

JIM MOIR IS BETTER KNOWN AS COMEDIAN VIC REEVES, BUT RECENT ARTISTIC OUTINGS REVEAL A MULTI-TALENTED MAN WITH AN ENDLESSLY CREATIVE MIND. SALLY HALES AND NATALIE MILNER ASKED HIM HOW AND WHY HE PAINTS

- Sally Hales and Natalie Milner

Anyone who remembers the 1990s’ TV comedy The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer will hardly be surprised that, when one of its creators’ thoughts turn to painting, the outcome veers towards the surreal. Indeed, a look at Jim Moir’s – aka Vic Reeves – recent exhibition of paintings and drawings, Wrestlers, etc, at London’s Grosvenor Gallery revealed an imagination at full throttle. Works taking in the surreal, amusing, bizarre and sinister are clearly the product of constant creativity. “I think putting your imagination on canvas or a television screen is the same thing,” says Jim. “If you’ve got an idea, you have got to have an outlet for it. So if it’s painting, poetry, singing or acting it all comes out somewhere.”