James was born in London, England in 1962. Although he briefly studied art in school it was not until he immigrated to New York City in 1982 and found himself working for a high level painting and decorating company that he started to grow and understand color and different mediums. However it was the discovery of Venetian plaster in the mid eighties that really captured his attention and its potential as not just a wall finish but as a living breathing entity more than capable of hanging as art. Upon seeing his first completed Venetian plaster wall James stood back in awe. His first thought was that there was art there. “You could have cut out a section of the wall and framed it.”
James’ time in New York put him in front of some of America’s best artisans in the field of interior decorating and faux finishing and was consequentially privileged to call Jackie Onassis, The Rockefellers, Yoko Ono, Donald Trump and many more as clients.
James did not truly explore the potential of Venetian plaster as a medium to create art until 1994. It was at this time that James relocated to Atlanta and proceeded to perfect his technique while continuing as a faux and decorative painter achieving a success consistent with New York. Since being in Atlanta James has had the pleasure of working with the Turner family amongst other prominent Atlanta residents and his work has been featured in Southern Living, House Beautiful, Atlanta and Veranda magazines. It still took James several years experimenting with Venetian plaster on various surfaces before he was able to achieve the finish and depth he was striving for in art.
What is often most intriguing to James’ clients is not just the unique and unusual nature of his medium but the history behind it dating back to the Renaissance era and the construction of Venice during that period. Venetian plaster was created to eliminate the problem of weight in marble slabs typically used as interior decorating during that time. Where as in normal cities it was not an issue due to the location of the city of Venice and the soft silt foundation they were building on the added weight of the marble was causing buildings to sink. The solution was to grind marble into dust and mix with lime replicating an ancient plastering technique that goes back millennia. The marble dust mixture allowed the artisans to plaster a wall glass smooth that could then be burnished leaving a finish that had the visual depth and feel of polished marble.
James has continued to explore the extent to which he can take his medium and has of late expanded his compositions to include abstract and non-objective in addition to his still successful contemporary landscapes. The Non-objective pieces allow him to truly experiment with layering of color creating movement and depth that is unachievable with other mediums.
On any given piece there could be between 20-50 layers of plaster of varying color. Each layer being applied thinner and thinner yet when completed may at most be 1/8th inch thick. Each piece goes through a process of plastering, sanding, washing which is repeated over and over. The washing can softly eliminate areas of plaster exposing color in such a way that is unachievable with any of the variety of plastering blades used in the process.
James’ inspiration has been drawn from life experience; he has traveled extensively around the world on land and sea both for pleasure and as a result of mission work in China, where he met his wife, and more recently in the remote desert region of Turkana, Kenya. James still has a love for his native country and especially the winter season where his series of Winter Tree’s are derived.
