JAMES WINE
HANDLE WITH CARE- SPOTLIGHT
I was going to start this introduction by saying James is Charleston-based painter, but he really is so much more than that. James is an artist in the truest sense of the word. He’s taking inspiration from what’s happening both in and around him and translating it into something tangible through any means necessary. Not pinned down by any one media, James’s work spans across works on paper, painting on canvas and panel, digital drawings, and beyond.
There’s something inherently moving about art that is genuinely reactionary and true to the artist’s relationship with life. You can tell- no, feel really is a better word- that a piece has history. That it’s lived a life as complex as the person who created it and that it’s worth delving deeper than face-value. For us at PW, this is what James delivers.
And with that, here we are in conversation with James.
PW: You talked to us about how anime, cartoons, and video games have influenced your WORK, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT AND PERHAPS SHARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITES?
JW:
There are too many! I love shows like The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Ren & Stimpy, Sailor Moon, and Card Captor Sakura. They were some of my favorites growing up. I loved shows that got a little gross, and I especially loved shows that were pretty and empowering. I believe there’s a magical girl in all of us.
I would say that mostly the gross shows up in my work though. All of my favorite American cartoons are very silly, kind of disgusting, and have lots of noodly arms. If there’s anything I’ve taken from these shows, it's definitely the lack of joints in the arms.
I’ve only more recently embraced the Magical Girl aesthetic in my collages. I’m still trying to blend some of those intricate designs, sparkly gems, and brilliant colors with representations of diseased patches of skin.
PW: What inspires your large oil paintings and how do they connect to the smaller, more RECENT WORK?
JW:
The large paintings relate to an old relationship of mine. My ex-partner and I would make monthly visits to orgies at house parties, or annual visits to queer events that centered mainly around sex. That’s all well and good, but at the time, I was still coming to terms with my identity as an ace person. I was never more keenly aware that I was different than at these events. The paintings were my way of trying to work out what I was feeling, which is my existence in what seems like a hectic, overwhelming, and lust-filled world.
The smaller, more recent collages that I’ve been doing are combining some of my earlier and current references and it seems so silly to name them all. I tried, and I realized I was just writing a biography at that point. In essence I just want to make beautiful things from something gross. My ‘Biopsies’ are little swatches of pustules, zits, cuts, bruises, disease and all of the unsightly things we try to tuck away, but make it fashion.
PW: When we visited your studio, you talked about “making gross things pretty” and about combining the iconography of Sailor moon with skin textures in your “biopsy” series. What is the significance to you of combining these two?
jw:
Sailor Moon launched a little bit of gem obsession when I was younger. I must have been about 9 when it first aired in the US, and suddenly all of my fantasy fights involved powered-up gemstones. I even kept a little treasure chest with different rocks and costume jewelry my mom gave me buried in the backyard. Epics could be written on the impact that Sailor Moon had on fashion/art and vice versa.
It’s always been in the back of my mind, to make gross things pretty that is. I try to pack my paintings with tons of color and movement, even though the imagery can be a little provocative. In the end, I think that better serves to just offset the initial reaction to my paintings. There’s so much going on typically that it takes a moment to let the scene sink in.
As for the collages in the ‘Biopsies” series, I think I wanted to take the opposite approach. Maybe I’ve spent too much time looking at them, but to me they resemble something gross at first. It takes a moment to notice the gems or beads sparkling in the sore, or the slight pearlescent shimmer to the pus. I wanted to pull some of that nostalgia out of me, and make a rotted nod to Sailor Moon.
PW: There’s an ongoing debate about “separating the art from the artist” and to what extent that is even possible. How do you choose to represent yourself in your own work?
jw:
At a certain point in my artistic journey, I was pretty focused on just color, form and pattern. Those things are still very important to me, obviously, but now my paintings or drawings all have very personal imagery in them. Intimate details, tragedies, or embarrassments are all over the place. It’s forced me to have more vulnerable conversations with people, and it has made me more introspective about what I’m trying to portray. Since some of my drawings or paintings can take so long, often my feelings about the subjects evolve over time and end up going in a different direction. When I look at my art now I see my life. I remember all of the things that made me happy, and also not so happy. In this instance, it seems impossible to separate me from what I’ve made.
PW: What inspires you to keep working and moving forward in the face of adversity?
jw:
Not much, unfortunately. I think that I’m typically inspired to make art when there’s a key moment in my life, a core memory, that I want to put down. The trouble is, one of the biggest moments of my life has happened recently when my mom died. I haven’t made much of anything since, except the collages from the ‘Biopsies” series, which are connected to her too. I know that I’ll move out of this headspace eventually with time. So, for now, I’m looking for inspiration somewhere other than my own memories.
interested in seeing more of james’s work?
A collection of paintings, digital drawings, as well as a selection of “Biopsies” will be on view from April 18th-April 20th.
Friday April 18th 6p-10p
Saturday April 19th 10a-4p
Sunday April 20th 3p-6p
OPENING RECEPTION:
VIEWING HOURS: