571 Projects, in collaboration with Fair Folks and a Goat, pleased to announce Jimmie James: PlayTime, an exhibition of new small-scale abstract paintings, curated by Sophie Bréchu-West. The opening reception will take place on Thursday, May 23, 7-9pm at Fair Folks and a Goat, 96 West Houston Street in Manhattan.
In this exhibition of new paintings on canvas and wood panel, a wordless dialogue is created between the individual pieces and the viewer. While some pieces, such as an attempt to reach before (2013, acrylic on wood panel, 12 x 12 in.) are pared down to brooding, moody, monochromatic black and white, others speak to a tangible nostalgia through a modernist palette and painterly gesture. The angular planes and collage-like veils of color are juxtaposed with organic scribbles, random words, and vague figures from the artist's unconscious. The exhibition's title, PlayTime, takes inspiration from Jacques Tati's unique 1967 film which presents a closely observed, ultra-modern Paris, a city reduced to gleaming, polished, architectural surfaces and spaces of plate glass and steel, animated by the people traversing them, most notably the affable fugure of Monsieur Hulot. This confrontation of the angular and the abstract with the organic and rawly human is at the heart of Jimmie James' paintings. Spontaneous line drawing elements lie next to deliberately executed areas of paint. Elliptically narrative titles, such as softly, she said (2010, acrylic on watercolor paper, 14.5 x 14.75 in.) are poetically elusive, as though excerpted from a dialogue. James' paintings always exhibit a strong sense of emotional integrity and truth.
Trained as an architect, James' work has long been collected outside of the gallery system. His paintings have been exhibited across the United States and abroad, most recently at Urban Art House (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Think Space (New York City), 5 Gallery (Brooklyn, NY), 571 Projects (New York City), to name a few. He has completed numerous commissions for private collectors and organizations as diverse as New York University School of Law, Westin Hotels, and the architectural firm Gensler. In addition, his paintings have been selected by Verve Records for numerous album covers. his collectors run the gamut from private individuals to Raphael Vinoly (architect), Simon Baker (actor), Lyle Ashton Harris (artist), Scott Weiland (Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver), and Rob Thomas (lead singer, Matchbox Twenty). Brooklyn-born, James currently lives and works in New York City. He is also a talented singer/songwriter and actor.