James Jean

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter"
Oscar Wilde


I am an avid fan first of videogames, then of watching and making movies and afterwards of hearing and playing music with my electric guitar. I keep these hobbies but since three years ago I have really enjoyed a new passion that has stolen my emotions : surrealism pop paintings. James Jean is the artist that first got me attached to the art world. Since I knew of him from his wonderful Fables covers, I have come to know another artists that have really got my heart vibing with the need of another joyful art dose. But as the first girl, the first artist you really appreciate is the one that gets inside you. It is really admirable and incredible that an artist of such a young age has got so really to the roof of artistic creativity and "virtuoso" ability.

James Jean was born in 1979 in Taipei (Taiwan). After graduating in the New York School of Visual Arts where he got to know another brilliant illustrator (Tomer Hanuka), he inmediately got a job working with Ralph Baksi ("Lord of the Rings" animated movie and "Cool World") for some animation shorts that lamentably didn´t make the cut. He did some commercial work for Nike, The New York Times, Playboy magazine and a wonderful animation short for Prada "Trembled Blossoms"

Appart from all these works, the big time for James came when he was contracted to do a Vertigo Comics Covers for "Fables". He has been the only one that has won seven Eisner awards and three consecutive Harvey Awards for cover designer. The best samples of his work there (either finished, black and white or sketches) can be found here.

He has published three magnificent books either for art fans or "wanna-be" artists : the three volumes of Process Recess ( first and second volumes are sold out, you can find the first volume for $200). There is also a Fables covers work recopilation that is really interesting to see most of all because of the process of making the covers, from the black and white sketches to the final cut. I admire more his capability to draw with pencil and get to the more detailed part than his use of colour. If you look at the cover at the left (from Fables 81) it resembles more a fine art painting than an actual comic cover.


His jump to the art world was in the "Kindling" show exhibited in the Johnatan Levine Gallery in New York. How much I would have paid to be in that show and buy at least the worst of his artwork. That show is full of James Jean masterpieces and I think it is his best work to date. I really like the creativity, simplicity, use of colour and emotions it provokes on the spectator. The works that he is producing right now are more intricate and less demanded. I think that he is painting layer after layer after layer until the painting loses its emotion and is so obscure that it doesn´t represent or feel anything. Having said that they are also nice pieces of work to watch. We will have to wait and see his next solo show in "Martha Otero Gallery" to realize if he keeps continuing attracting and evolving in the right way...





And by the way, I am the proud owner of this piece (bought from an intermediary of a James Jean´s show in Brussels) ...