About

Jeremy Hobbs is a multidisciplinary artist, living and working in his hometown of London, Ontario. A graduate of London’s esteemed Bealart program, Hobbs specialized in the areas of film and photography, his photographic work being featured in countless exhibitions, the most notable of which are Diametric (2004), Incision (2005), Asylum (2006), and Cirque de la Lune (2006). Hobbs is an original member of acclaimed art group The Shadowood Collective, a cabal of cheerfully macabre regional artists (including Vincent Marcone, Sarah Legault, and Richard A. Kirk) who have curated and displayed in a variety of multimedia exhibitions, including A Curious Collection of Monstrous Tinies (2010), Stranger! (2011), Do We Make You Uneasy? (2017), and Betwixt & Between the Monsters We Dream (2018).

A multi-instrumentalist, Hobbs has also been active in the Canadian music scene, collaborating with various notable musicians (such as Sebastien Grainger of Death from Above 1979 and Damo Suzuki of legendary krautrock group CAN). From 2004-2006, Hobbs performed as a guest guitarist with London’s seminal noise outfit Nihilist Spasm Band, while simultaneously being featured in avant jazz musician Eric Stach’s Free Music Unit series. He also contributed liner notes to the Lion Productions reissue of NSB’s legendary first album No Record. Hobbs is a founding member of improvisational group Exit 2012 (who have been featured in both the LOLA and Electric Eclectics music festivals) and Audioforge (a multimedia collaboration with blacksmiths Jeff Werkmeister and Scott McKay).

In 2009, Hobbs infiltrated the local theatre community as both playwright and director. His inaugural effort The Hero (2009) garnered the Brickenden Award for ‘Bravest Production’, and his subsequent production Neverland (2012) won the Brickenden Award for ‘Outstanding Original Script’, as well as the ‘Best Solo Performance’ award for lead actor Harry Edison. Hobbs’ theatre work examines the dark underbelly of contemporary suburban life, giving a voice to outsider characters that Nietzsche once referred to as “the bungled and botched”. Hobbs is currently working on a challenging new piece of theatre, entitled A Quiet Man, which examines issues of contemporary violence with regard to its complicated origins and multifaceted sociological impact.

An avid cinephile, Hobbs’ interviews and reviews have been featured in various publications (Cinema Sewer, Offerings), most prominently as a frequent contributor to acclaimed countercultural opus Rue Morgue. Throughout 2014, Hobbs maintained the ‘Cinephilia’ column for local arts and culture publication The London Yodeller. In addition to this, Hobbs also contributes programming to the Hyland Cinema, London’s only independent repertoire theatre, where he hosts the monthly midnight madness series Retro-Mania. He is also a recurring guest on the popular Netflakes podcast. Most recently, Hobbs entered the world of film production, associate producing the idiosyncratic new documentary David Lynch: The Art Life, which was recently accepted into the esteemed Criterion Collection.

contact: jeremy@blackroom.ca