Mark James: VIVID

About

Best known for FREEZE (1993) the first TV documentary about Damien Hirst and the YBA generation, James originally trained at Goldsmiths and has continued to pursue painting alongside creating numerous critically acclaimed TV and feature documentaries on music and the arts. James now divides his time between film making and painting and the exhibition at Cris Contini is his debut solo exhibition.

Photography, architecture, music, colour and movement are all part of the fundamental DNA of James’ practice, conjuring joyful and dynamic spaces of colour, light and movement. Described by Waldemar Januszczak, the Art Critic of The Sunday Times as “Pop Suprematism”, James’ paintings are structured to create juxtapositions of shape, space and colour, evoking a mid-century aesthetic of modernism and a kind of future set in the past.

James comments “composers often start with a single note, or chord-that becomes the defining sound of the song from which all the other notes flow. My painting process is very similar to this music analogy. It’s always tricky starting the process, but once I apply the first colour to the canvas, others follow in reaction to that”.

Often created in response to music, James’ paintings frequently reference the artist’s wide-ranging playlist in their titles, from ‘Summer Wind’ to ‘Come Fly With Me’. James comments, “Although the paintings aren’t inspired by specific songs, I use song titles to name my paintings by selecting music which I feel most closely resonate with each painting. I particularly like music from the jazz /swing era and a number of people have commented that the paintings have a kind of jazz ‘vibe’.

James’ work is held in numerous high-profile private collections and is prominently featured in the celebrated Groucho alongside many of his YBA peers and Sir Michael Craig-Martin, the esteemed British artist whom James worked with as a trusted studio assistant for many years.