About

Jamin (Dr. Benjamin Kluss, b. 1976, Sydney) is a Tasmanian based artist of mixed Indian, German, Irish and English ancestry known for his vibrant murals and street art as well as contemporary material assemblages developed through academic and gallery based work. His creative output also extends to festival, museum and industry based work. Jamin’s musical project is performed through Vibrant Matters.

Jamin has produced mural work at an international level as well as maintaining close links to community and educational institutions in the pursuit of teaching and learning. Some career highlights from Jamin’s varied endeavours include his selection for Contemporary Australia: Optimism at the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA) in Brisbane, the Rosamond McCulloch Studio Residency, Paris in 2011, his work as a creative associate at MONA FOMA (2015-2017) and the 70+ Murals he has painted across nipaluna (Hobart), lutruwita (Tasmania) and beyond.

Jamin holds a PhD from the School of Creative Arts & Media, University of Tasmania, where his thesis was titled Fugitive Identity: An Abstraction of Persona through the Mask, Camouflage and Material Assemblage.

Jamin is a self represented artist who has worked with a number of commercial galleries including Criterion Gallery (Hobart), Despard Gallery (Hobart) and Flinders Lane Gallery, (Melbourne).

CV

Jamin's work is held in a number of public and private collections including the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Australian War Memorial and the Art Gallery of Ballarat. 

Education

2021      PhD Fine Art (School of Creative Arts & Media, University of Tasmania) - Fugitive Identity: The Mask, Camouflage & Material Assemblage - Whole Thesis PDF
2008      Master of Fine Art (Research Higher Degree) (Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania) - Dissent & Critical Opinion: A Visual Language - Whole Thesis PDF
2005      Bachelor of Fine Art with First Class Honours (Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania)
2004      Bachelor of Fine Art – Painting Major (Tasmanian School of Art, University of Tasmania)
1998      Certificate in Pre-Press (Trade - Adelaide institute of TAFE)

Solo Exhibitions
2019 - Floating Point, Flinder’s Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2017 - Black Prism, Despard Gallery, Hobart
2013 - One Thing Begets Another, Despard Gallery, Hobart
2011 – Shields Against the Enemy, Criterion Gallery, Hobart
2008 – INERTIA / FORCE / CHANGE / INERTIA, Criterion Gallery, Hobart
2007 – First We Take Paris, Then We Take the World, Solo Commission Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport
2007 – Tasmania: Explore the Possibilities, INFLIGHT Gallery, Hobart
2006 – Common Ground (Folie á Trois), BUS Gallery, Melbourne
2005 – A.K.A. (Every One's a Suspect), Criterion Gallery @ Amulet Restaurant, Hobart

Production Work

2021 – Piecing It Together, Council of the Aged, Glenorchy Workshop & Mural
2018 – Vibrance Festival, Mural Production, Hobart 
2018 – Piecing It Together, Council of the Aged, North Hobart Workshop & Mural
2015/17 – FAUX MO (MONA FOMA), Creative Director / Curator of Visual Environment
2016 – Dark Park Graffiti Wall, Dark MOFO
2016 – Peacock Theatre, Visual Re-Design and Production of Foyer Space, Salamanca Arts Centre
2016 – Fractangular, Visual Co-Production Main Stage Co-Production
2015 – Party In The Lane (Moo Brew), Live Artwork Production (with Aedan Howlett)
2014 – FRANK, Artwork (Painting), Hobart
2014 – MONA ROMA 0 (MR0), Interior & Exterior Artwork Production for 2nd MONA Ferry
2013 – MONA Paella Stand Artwork Production for MONA Exec Chef Vince Trim
2013 – MONA ROMA 1 (MR1), Interior & Exterior Artwork Production for MONA Ferry, with Tom O'Herne and Rob O'Connor

Curatorial Work

2017 – MONA FOMA, Creative Associate / Visual Curator, Faux Mo
2016 – MONA FOMA, Creative Associate / Visual Curator, Faux Mo
2015 – MONA FOMA, Creative Associate / Visual Curator, Faux Mo
2009 – Auto-Graphic, INFLIGHT Gallery, (Co-curated with Scot Cotterell), Hobart
2007 – Edition Addiction Vol #1, Jimmy’s Skate & Street
2006 – Sex & the City, BUS Gallery (Co-curated with Scot Cotterell), Melbourne

Selected Group Exhibitions

2018 – FIFA Street Art / Mural Festival, Moscow, Russia 
2018 – BOAA (Biennale of Australian Art), Curated by Julie Collins, Ballarat, Victoria
2018 – Partnershipping, Curated by Patricia Hoffie, Burnie Regional Arts Gallery 
2018 – BTFS, Curated by Anne Mestitz, CAT Gallery
2017 – Islands: A Speculation, (with Nicolas Mole & Grace Williams) TDOTI, Curated by Jane Deeth, QVMAG, Launceston
2015 – Growth, Change, Influence, Curated by Damien Quilliam, QVMAG Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston
2015 – Your Kid Can’t Do This: International Stencil Art, Curated by Luke Cornish aka E.L.K., Ambush Gallery, Sydney
2015 – STAND BACK, Curated by Josie Hurst, Moonah Arts Centre
2015 – Abstraction, Despard Gallery, Hobart
2014 – ORDER / DISORDER, Verge Gallery, Sydney
2014 – Make Your Mark, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery
2014 - Abstraction, Despard Gallery
2013 – Investigations, Plimsoll Gallery
2013 – I WANT CHANGE, curated by Michael Brennan, LUMA (La Trobe University Museum of Art)
2012 – InFLUX, curated by Tracey Cockburn, Rosny Barn
2011 – Dimanche Rouge #11, Batofar, Paris
2011 – Street Kube, Kube Hotel, Paris
2011 – Group Action 7, Criterion Gallery, Hobart
2010 – Next Show, Melville Street Warehouse, Hobart
2010 – The Oyster's Locale, ArtsAlive, Launceston (Curated by Fernando do Campo)
2010 – May's Touring Exhibition, Bathurst Regional Gallery, Bathurst
2010 – Spray Drip Stroke, Poimena Gallery, Launceston (Curated by Ben Miller)
2010 – Let's Make the Water Turn Black, INFLIGHT Gallery, Hobart (Curated by Mat Ward)
2010 – Group Action 6, Criterion Gallery HOBART
2010 – Prosopography, Academy Gallery, Launceston
2010 – Group Action 5, Criterion Gallery, Hobart
2009 – Poppers, Front Gallery, Newcastle (Curated by Tom Kearny)
2009 – Darwin Centenary, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart
2009 – May's Lane Street Art Retrospective, Carriage Works, Sydney
2009 – Portrait Show, Famous When Dead Gallery, Melbourne
2009 – Your Kid Can't Do This, ACT Legislative Assembly Gallery, Canberra
2008 – Contemporary Australia: Optimism, Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
2008 – Unsustainable Weight of Place, Watch This Space, Alice Springs
2008 – Some Dayz, Michael Koro Gallery, Melbourne (Curated by Adrian Doyle)
2008 – Lucha Libre!, INFLIGHT Gallery, Hobart (Curated by Victor Medrano)
2007 – Urban Skins, Pinnacles Gallery, Thurngowa, Queensland
2007 – Urban Art Agenda #1 (with Die Laughing Collective), Shed 4, Docklands, Melbourne.
2007 – INFLIGHT, Firstdraft ARI, Sydney; ArtsAlive, Launceston; INFLIGHT, Hobart.
2007 – Stencil Festival 2007, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Sale, Ballarat.
2007 – E.G., Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart (curated be Briony Nainby)
2007 – Sea Change, Kill Difference, Red Wall Gallery, Hobart (curated by Tim Panaretos)
2007 – Selected Cuts, Higher Ground, Adelaide Fringe Festival, Adelaide
2006 – ...text me, Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport (curated by Ellie Ray)
2006 – 2006 Melbourne / Sydney Stencil Festival, Melbourne & Sydney
2006 – May’s Retrospective Exhibition (with Die Laughing Collective), Building 1 Factory 1, Sydney
2006 – Hatched ‘06, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA), Perth
2006 – A Place in the World - Visual Art Prize, ACU and University of Adelaide, Adelaide
2006 – Sticker Fix, Sabotage Gallery, Hobart
2005 – Artmart, Urban Café / Sabotage, Hobart
2005 – Criminal Intent (with Die Laughing Collective), HO Gallery, Melbourne
2005 – Melbourne Stencil Festival (with Die Laughing Collective), Meat Markets, Melbourne

Grants, Awards & Commissions
2023 – We Love Country, Childrens Book Mural Illustrations with Luke Emmerton for DECYP
2022 – Tasmananian Government Art Site Scheme – Dodges Ferry Ambulance Station
2022 – University of Tasmania Public Art Commission, Elizabeth Street
2022 – Public art commission for the Dodges Ferry Ambulance Station under the Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme
2021 – COMA (Corridor of Modern Art) Public Art Commission, Glenorchy Tasmania
2021 – Mapiya Lumi: Around Here, Mural Production, TMAG (Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery)
2020 – Jansz Tasmania, Cuvée Packaging Commission
2019 – West: Out on the Edge, Mural Commission, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery
2018 – FIFA Street Art / Mural Festival, Moscow, Russia
2018 – Food Art Production, MONA, Toby Zeigler exhibition Opening
2018 – Vibrance Festival, Mural Production
2018 – Piecing It Together, Council of the Aged, North Hobart Workshop & Mural
2017 – Public art commission for Elizabeth College under the Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme
2017 – Faux Mo (MOFO), Curator and Creative Associate Mona Foma Tasmananian Government Art Site Scheme – Elizabeth College
2016 – Public art commission for Hobart College (with Jacob Leary) under the Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme
2016 – Dark Park Graffiti Wall, Dark MOFO, alongside the Labyrinth
2016 – Faux Mo (MOFO), Curator and Creative Associate Mona Foma
2016 – Devil Mural Project, Lead Artist & Educator, Kickstart Arts
2016 – Peacock Theatre, Visual Re-Design and Production of Foyer Space, Salamanca Arts Centre
2016 – Fractangular, Visual Co-Production Main Stage
2015 – Party In The Lane (Moo Brew), Live Artwork Production (with Aedan Howlett)
2015 – Faux Mo (MOFO), Curator and Creative Associate Mona Foma
2015 – Fractangular, Market Stage Visual Production, Buckland, Tasmania
2014 – FRANK, Interior & Exterior Artwork Production for Hobart restaurant Frank
2014 – Make Your Mark, Exterior Mural Production, Kingston & Moonah, TMAG
2014 – MONA ROMA 0 (MR0), Interior & Exterior Artwork Production for 2nd MONA Ferry
2013 – MONA Paella Stands Artwork Production for MONA Chef Vince Trim
2013 – MONA ROMA 1 (MR1), Interior & Exterior Artwork Production with Tom O'Herne and Rob O'Connor
2013 – Tasmanian Graduate Research Scholarship
2012 – Winner: Vectorizer Prize, Clarence City Council
2012 – Glover Prize, Finalist
2011 – Rosamund McCulloch Studio Residency, Paris
2009 – 146 Studio Residency, Arts Tasmania
2007 – Devonport Regional Gallery Solo Commission 2007
2006 – Australian Post Graduate Award Scholarship
2005 – Public art commission for New Town High School (with Die Laughing Collective) under the Tasmanian Government Art Site Scheme

Solo Exhibitions with Die laughing Collective (Jamin, Paicey & Empire)
2009 – May's, May Lane, Sydney
2008 – Heavy Weight, Blender Studio Wall, Melbourne
2006 – May’s, May Lane, Sydney
2006 – The Rat Palace, Entrepot Gallery, Hobart
2005 – Die Laughing, Earlyspace Gallery, Melbourne
2004 – Dissent Disrupt Desert, Entrepot Gallery, Hobart

Selected Publications

2021      Fugitive identity: an abstraction of persona through the mask, camouflage and material assemblage, Benjamin David Kluss (a.k.a. Jamin), PHD Thesis, University of Tasmania
2018      Biennale of Australian Art (it takes a Village), Julie Collins, Ballarat NSW
2015      Stand Back : Exhibition Catalogue, Josie Hurst, Glenorchy : City of Glenorchy, ISBN 9780994277305
2013      I want change : two decades of artistic defiance, disapproval and dissent, Michael Brennan, Melbourne : La Trobe University Museum of Art, ISBN 9781921915253
2013      In the Vineyard of Art: The Story of Art and Tasmania, A History, Vol 2, Michael Denholm, Lenah Valley, Tas. : Carlton St Press, ISBN 9780975168424(v. 2)
2010      May's : the May Lane Street Art Project, Tugomir Balog, Bathurst, N.S.W. : Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, ISBN 9780947301828
2009      MAY'S at Carriageworks2009 /​[Tugomir Balog, Wendy Murray, editors], St. Peters N.S.W. : MAY'S, ISBN 9780980628005
2008      Developing a visual language that engages with contemporary dissent and critical opinion, Benjamin David Kluss (a.k.a. Jamin), Research Masters Thesis, University of Tasmania
2008      Contemporary Australia : optimism,  contributing authors, John Birmingham ... [et al.], South Brisbane, Qld. : Queensland Art Gallery, ISBN 9781876509576
2007      First we take Paris, then we take the world, Jamin, Devonport, Tas. : Devonport Regional Gallery, ISBN 9780977591367
2007      Uncommissioned art : an A-Z of Australian graffiti, Christine Dew, Carlton, Vic. : The Miegunyah Press, ISBN 9780522853759
2006      Hatched '06 : national graduate show, Hannah Matthews (ed), Perth, W.A. : Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts, ISBN 1875386653
2005      Stencil graffiti capital : Melbourne, Jake Smallman &​Carl Nyman, West New York, NJ : Mark Batty, ISBN 9780976224532