Artist statement
Using objects appropriated from cartoons as a starting point, Vincent James makes artwork across a range of media including painting, sculpture and animation. In this work props dislocated from different cartoon worlds collide, creating surreal and whimsical interactions.
James’ sampling of popular culture and separation of objects from their original context links his work to American pop artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Claes Oldenburg. In his work objects originally only glimpsed in a few frames of a cartoon, become frozen in time, locked in three-dimensional space or trapped in endless loops of animation.
Since completing an MA at Goldsmiths in 1999 Vincent James has shown both nationally and internationally including exhibitions in New York, Los Angeles and Sao Paulo. Recent shows include a solo exhibition at Saltburn Artist’s Projects, a public artwork commissioned for Heywood Sports Village, Lancashire and inclusion in Layers of Landscape a group show at Touchstones Rochdale.
His work is also part of the Frederick R Weisman Art Foundation Collection, California and Touchstones Art Gallery Permanent Collection, Rochdale.
Qualifications and training
- 1999 MA Fine Art, Goldsmiths, London
Solo exhibitions
- 2010 Soft Centred, Saltburn Artists' Projects, Saltburn-by-the-Sea
- 2010 Flotsam and Jetsam, The Lowry Hotel, Manchester
- 2009 Stuff and Nonsense, Pad Gallery, Preston
- 2008 Suspended Animation, Touchstones Art Gallery, Rochdale
- 2008 Jet Set Trash, Hive Gallery, Elsecar, Barnsley
- 2005 Crash Bang Wallop, The Lowry Hotel, Manchester
- 2004 Reanimator, Comme Ca Art NYC, New York
- 2004 Reanimator, Comme Ca Art, Manchester
- 2001 Snow Business, Habitat, London
- 2001 Vincent James, Ace Gallery (Project Space), New York
- 2000 Vincent James, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles
Group exhibitions
- 2012 Proper Normal, Pal, Free For Arts Festival, Manchester
- 2012 A Century Later, Touchstones Art Gallery, Rochdale
- 2012 This is Not an Empty Space, Melbourne Works, Hebden Bridge
- 2011 Layers of Landscape, Touchstones Art Gallery, Rochdale
- 2009 Buy Art Fair, Urbis, Manchester
- 2008 Art and Illusion, Susquehanna Art Museum, Pennsylvania
- 2008 FRED 08, Fold Gallery, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria
- 2008 ArtMap, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
- 2007 The Eclectic Eye, Contemporary Art Centre, New Orleans
- 2007 Inspirational Artwork, The Lowry Hotel, Manchester
- 2005 FRED 05, Grizedale Forest Sculpture Trail, Cumbria
- 2004 We didn't mean to be bad kids - TV made us do it, Warrington Museum, Warrington
- 2002 Ace Invitational, Ace Gallery, New York
- 2001 LA International – Biennial Art Invitational, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles
- 2000 Zig Zag, Thomas Cohen Gallery, Sao Paulo
Private commissions
- 2006 Bath Time and Tide, Comme Ca Art, Manchester
Public commissions
- 2010 Making Waves, Heywood Sports Village, Lancashire
Web links - gallery/work/projects
