James Napoleon studied painting at School of Visual Arts in New York City. His works are in private and corporate art collections, and have been shown in solo and group exhibitions, including the Parrish Art Museum (Southampton, NY) 30th Juried Exhibition, and Westport (CT) Arts Center Solos Exhibition.
James' 'Classmates' mega-painting was selected by Juror Amy Mackie, Curatorial Assistant at NYC's New Museum, as one of five collections for the Westport Arts Center 2009 Solos exhibition. The Classmates collection was acquired by Classmates Online for its corporate headquarters.
A major exhibition is in planning with deCordova Gallery in Greenport NY for the 2012 season, presenting Obsession, and other works. Obsession will be shown again in September at Peter Lawrence Gallery, Gaylordsville CT.
Greenport NY studioStatement
We are here for whatever reason. The things we make – clothing, music, furniture, roads, boats, shelters, and so on – and ourselves interact in ways that in certain configurations find resonance in us that will not be silenced. I use materials and techniques of artists to ponder these resonances as refracted through the generations and experience that formed me as I am now. The only thing we have created is language; everything else comes from the earth and the rhythms within and surrounding it. My paintings are essentially a language about the experience of painting.