Are you a struggling artist? In dire need of inspiration, money or motivation? Look no further than LCC alumnus Jimmy Merris’ 10 top tips for 2011, drafted all the way from the Downturn Entaprize Careerz Centa in his Peckham studio.

Jimmy lives and works at Studio Downturn, an all-encompassing art space that mocks economic misery (its cyber home sits conspicuously at economicdownturn.org.uk) and boasts a publishing press, a photography studio, a ‘sprayshop’ and career centre.

“I bought the website www.economicdownturn.org.uk in 2009 and set up Studio Downturn soon after because I wanted to put something on the website (it was all white and there was a sense of urgency). The Downturn Press came first, then the Careerz Centa and photography studio and then the sprayshop. All these facilities are now being developed simultaneously.”

Jimmy is also about to launch his first solo exhibition, doing the downturn, or finding your feet in the times of the worried man, at Seventeen Gallery, a series of self-professed “short and strange” videos, about which it’s “probably best not to say too much”. He graduated with a degree in Graphic and Media Design – Design for Illustration in 2007 and has since worked for fellow LCC alumni and independent curators/artists, Pat and Trevor as well as setting up his enterprise.

So for all you struggling artists out there in need of some guidance from likeminded souls who know how it feels, you’ve got a place to go.

Jimmy Merris: finding your feet in the times of the worried man runs from Thursday 13 January to Saturday 12 February at Seventeen Gallery, 17 Kingsland Road, E2 8AA