beyond visits Cartwright Hall in Bradford to see the new Jim Moir art exhibition Neo Fauna and discover a man on a mission to make us see and appreciate birds in a different way.

By Mark Bowness

Wandering around the Neo Fauna exhibition at the Hockney Gallery at Cartwright Hall is a bit like entering a mystical, magical aviary on acid.

And having just returned, it’s a trip that comes highly recommended to art and bird lovers alike.

It’s hard to imagine the array of different styles, which will be adorning the walls of the Bradford gallery until August, has come from the brush strokes of just one man.

But when you realise that man is Jim Moir – aka Vic Reeves – the eccentricity and peculiarity of it all, makes total sense.

The anarchy and hilariously absurd nature of his comedy is unmistakably evident in his bold, colourful and often surreal paintings of birds and humans.

It’s a brilliant, brash and refreshing take on the wildlife that surrounds us and one that has seen Leeds-born Moir dubbed the Andy Warhol of bird paintings.

Speaking at the exhibition launch earlier this year, Jim said: “I’m delighted to have brought Neo Fauna to this amazing space. It’s an honour to have my birds hanging where David Hockney’s work usually lives and I only hope they behave themselves while they are there.”

At the heart of the exhibition are a series of large, colourful paintings of garden birds – long-tailed tit, tree creeper, firecrest, magpie, robin – which he captured on canvas using a variety of mediums including watercolour paints, pencil, charcoal and even mud – to add layers and texture to his works.

Growing up, Jim always dreamt of becoming an artist and although his father pushed him onto a mechanical engineering course, his love for drawing never died and he eventually made it to a London art school in the 80s.

Despite his cult comedy success with 90s shows like The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer and Shooting Stars, Moir still counts art as his favoured profession and believes more should still be done to encourage young people at school to follow their artistic dreams.

He said: “People tend to think it’s a bit of fluff, something to do when you’ve been at work all day, not a career option. When I was 15, if I’d known that one day I’d be doing this, I’d have been so excited.”

Moir was born in Leeds in 1959 before moving to Darlington at the age of five, and amidst the backdrop of a grim industrial north, he was always fascinated with the colour that wildlife brought into the world and when his dad gave him a pair of binoculars as a child, his fascination with his feathered friends grew even further.

He said: “They’re just weird, birds, in a good way. Lots of people are drawn to birds because they’re strange, and they have superpowers. They can do things we wish we could do, like fly, and so much more.”

Every day, Moir gets up at the crack of dawn to begin work behind his easel, often developing several paintings at once.

Observation is central to his process – he balances time in the studio with long walks spent studying birds in their natural environment.

He said: “I paint every day from 5.30 in the morning until about 12, and then I go out and I walk and I look. Walking is just as important as time in the studio because you’re looking at things and you’ve got to experience things; you’ve got to feel it.”

A part of how to identify a bird when birdwatching, is to look to see the essence of how a bird moves and carries itself and Moir studies this instinctive presence before translating it into paintings that invite us to see birds in new ways.

His passion for ornithology and art was showcased in the Sky Arts series Painting Birds with Jim and Nancy Moir, in which Jim and his wife travel across the UK painting native birds.

He now hopes Neo Fauna will encourage people to head into their gardens, local parks and the countryside to check out the birdlife. “I don’t think you get much in Bradford that you don’t get in other cities in the North. You’d have to go a long way to find a gannet. But if you take the time to look, sometimes you’ll surprised by what you’ll see.”

All artworks will be available to purchase, with a portion of the proceeds supporting Bradford and District Museums and Galleries to remain free and open to all.

Jim Moir: Neo Fauna runs until 31st August at Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Lister Park, Bradford, BD9 4NS