Jamie Larnach is a multidisciplinary artist based in Auckland, New Zealand. His art explores nature, dreams and visionary states, centred around the idea that our perception of reality is a form of hallucination.
Jamie is interested in the concept of what we define as reality and our individual unique perspectives. This seems especially relevant now when reflecting on events of the new millennia including the uptick of fake news, distrust of science, an increasing polarisation of opinion on what is ‘real’ and the burgeoning influence of artificial intelligence.
His research into these ideas has led him to the concepts of ‘umwelt’ and ‘umgebung’ which arise in the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok. According to Uexküll and Sebeok, umwelt is your own unique world-view the “biological foundation of communication and signification in the humans and animals”. Organisms have different umwelten, even though they share the same environment, as their concept of reality is defined by their instruments of perception. Umgebung, can be understood as the bigger reality, or maybe even the whole of reality, which we can’t conceive of or understand with our normal senses.
Sometimes knowing that there’s a lot more to reality than we can understand is exciting or scary and at other times it’s just business as usual.
Part of what Jamie explores with his art is the way reality is presented differently to each entity; your reality is different to another person; a human’s is different to a bird and so on. Our reality is mediated by our senses and our tools of perception, including brain chemistry.
The world of music
Since the very early 90’s, Jamie has been part of Aotearoa’s underground music culture, creating safe and curated events, making music, DJing and creating psychedelic art. He started Entrain NZ’s first rave with a group of friends in 1992 and again working with another group of friends, started Splore in 1998. The impact of these events on New Zealand’s culture has been profound. His current musical outlet as a DJ and producer is as Dastardly Bounder. Jamie has been DJing since 1991 and it continues to be one of his greatest pleasures and passions.
Doc Westie’s Bogan Circus
Jamie discovered that he is a bit of a method actor and can become possessed by a character if he lets it take over. Jamie developed ‘Doc Westie’ from a whimsical character into a fully-fledged stage presence with a defined social group of circus performer freaks known as Doc Westie’s Bogan Circus. As Doc Westie, he led solo or group shows. One of the great things that Doc Westie brings to the party is a sense of humour and showmanship.
Doc Westie has been the subject of a radio documentary, radio interviews and was the subject for a chapter of a book called “Bogan–An Insider’s Guide” by Dr Dave Snell.
Splore
Jamie was one of the organisers of the inaugural Splore festival and maintained an organisational role from 1999 to the 2013 event. Jamie has been a DJ or musician at every Splore to date, playing the first song at the first Splore. At various times during the event he has exhibited his large-scale mural works, designed décor for dance zones and organised Splore’s first art trail. With Anne Larnach Jamie launched The Rumpus Room, firmly entrenching Splore as a family event, ensuring that there were child friendly activities and entertainment throughout the three-day festival.
Entrain
In the first years of the 1990’s Jamie launched his first large scale artistic project. A music and arts festival called Entrain. The event has become the stuff of legends in New Zealand electronic music circles, having an undeniable effect on the direction of many festivals that came afterwards.
