Artist Profile - Nathan James
| Artist Name | Nathan James |
| University | Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, ON. |
| Degree | BFA Diploma in Visual Art |
| Profile |
Nathan James is a Artist. Nathan's striking images combine elements of portraiture with graphic art. His paintings often give the viewer a tantalizing glimpse of larger, undefined narratives. Strong personalities emerge from Nathan's canvasses to act out both the salient and mundane moments from their emotional lives within the viewers' mind. Nathan uses a combination of techniques including traditional painting, silk-screen printing, and digital manipulation to achieve his distinctive works. He finds inspiration from many sources including graphic design, vintage photography, popular magazines and his own passion for skate culture. Nathan James was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario, Canada in 1979 and has degrees and diplomas from The Ontario College of Art and Design and McMaster University. His work has been exhibited extensively, with shows throughout North America and Europe and was recently featured in Scope London (2005). He currently lives and works in London. Exhibitions: 2007 Ballads, London, UK. 2005 Consumption Junction, Toronto, ON. 2005 S.S.K.A.A., Toronto, ON. 2005 Summer Fling, Toronto, ON. 2005 Mix Blender 3, Toronto, ON. 2005 Spring Phantasm, New York, NY. 2004 Panorama, Toronto, ON. 2004 Efficiency 2, Toronto, ON. 2004 Valley Boys, Toronto, ON. 2004 Monkey See Monkey Do,Toronto, ON. 2004 Gallery Artists, Toronto, ON. 2004 The Parrot Project, Toronto, ON. 2006 SCOPE New York, New York, NY. 2005 SCOPE London, London, UK. 2005 Nova Young Art Fair, Chicago, IL. 2004 AAF NYC 2004, Pier 92, New York, NY. 2004 [R][R][F] 2004--->XP, Biennale for Electronic Arts, Perth, Australia. 2004 SPACEMAKERS, Lothringer Dreizen, Munich, Germany. |
| Audio | |
| Interview |
What is your favourite film of all time? The film I’ve seen more times than any other is probably Labyrinth. I used to watch that over and over as a kid and still enjoy it very much to this day. Mazes, fantasy, David Bowie. Ticks all the boxes. What music are you currently listening to and why? I like stories in song. Strong narratives like The Decemberists, Bright Eyes, David Bowie. Which living artists do you most admire and why? Two contemporary artists that have had a huge influence on me recently would be John Currin and Lisa Yuskavage. I went and saw a bunch of Currin’s at the Tate storage a few weeks ago and was surprised at how painterly they were. I also like Will Cotton, Glenn Brown, Richard Phillips, Inka Essenhigh, Gerhard Richter, Neo Rauch, Dana Schultz, Franz Eckerman, and lots of others. Which deceased artist do you most admire and why? This changes all the time but at the moment I would have to say John Singer Sargent. I, like most people who appreciated him, can’t get over how loose yet descriptive his marks are. I love Velasquez and Manet for the same reason. I also am hugely obsessed with Norman Rockwell. Which exhibition that you have visited made the greatest impact on you and why? The Frieze Art Fair this year blew my mind. I’ve been to many art fairs but nothing that’s ever compared to that. It must have been a combination of the calibre of the work there, the level public engagement/excitement and the money. It was truly intoxicating. What is the question you get asked most frequently about your work and how do you answer it? Undoubtedly the question people ask most often is if I know the people in my paintings. It’s probably because my work borrows a lot from conventions of portraiture, The truth is that I don’t like painting people I know in real life. Early on in painting I got sick of people complaining if I made changes or if they thought it didn’t look like them. Borrowing Picasso’s line “It will” is only funny so many times. What/ who inspired you to be an artists? I found a Life of Picasso book when I was very young. His unconventional (to me at the time) representations of human form sparked something in my imagination. For years I copied (badly) cubist stylizations in drawings before gradually moving onto painting. I enjoyed it so much that when it came time to decide what I wanted to do with my life the idea of pursuing a career as an artist was the obvious choice. Can you tell us about where you make your art and what if any the significance of this location is? I have s a fairly large studio in Tulse Hill. It’s nice and I have a lot of time to myself there. For the first few months after I arrived in the UK I was painting out of a small bedroom in Hackney. Having space to work has definitely made me much happier and more productive. What do like most about being an artist? I like that painting allows me to present a performance to an audience without actually having to do it in front of anyone. What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date? The past couple of years have been fantastic. I’ve had work in exhibitions all over the world in places that I’ve never been to, had a wonderful amount of attention in the media, and met a lot of great people who have been incredibly supportive. It’s been fun but I’m positive the best is yet to come. What are your plans for the coming year? 2007 is looking fantastic and I’m feeling very optimistic. I’ve got a solo show in London this May and I have a few of ideas for new work beyond that as well. |
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