Weathered & Renewed

My work explores the unseen textures and imprinted marks nature wears from enduring the stresses of exposure and aging over many seasons and countless years. I internalize this feeling of exposure, visualize what lies beneath and document it within the surface of each painting. These enmeshed textures and movement of marks give testimony to recurring themes of vulnerability, conflict, resilience, beauty and renewal.

I choose to document a cyclical pattern within a passage of time, rather than freezing a fleeting moment in time, as is historically the case with landscape painters. Each work embodies a physicality and surface tension, an underlying distressing with hints of etching, abstraction and a modernizing to the traditional landscape.

Weathering and renewal also guides my creative process. I cycle through numerous iterations over long periods of time and carefully navigate the application of conflicting methods and mediums until I arrive at balance and harmony. 

This multidisciplinary approach, the mix of materials and techniques and process of creation, destruction and renewal is how my visual language becomes fully realized and my artistic intention rings true.

Descended from a family of lawyers, James is the self-described “black sheep” who always knew he wanted to create compelling things. As former creative director of his own design agency in Newport Beach, CA, James started his career as an art director in fashion advertising for Macy's department stores and moved on to crafting campaigns for clientele such as Warner Bros., Disney Kawasaki Motors, among others in technology and consumer retail. 

James has been working as a full-time artist since 2004.
His work is featured in both corporate and private collections throughout the U.S. as well as with a select few celebrity clientele.