Selected Solo/Group Exhibitions

2019 Joy of Sin — Curator Lisa Derrick, Lisa Derrick Fine Arts, Chinatown, Los Angeles CA
2018 Noche De Calavares 2 — Regime Contemporary, Los Angeles CA
2018 Art at the Rendon: Stories — Room 26, The Rendon, Los Angeles CA
2018 Go Figure! — The Pritzlaff Bldg., Milwaukee WI
2018 Art at the Rendon: Hidden Rooms — Room 29: Cut Ends, The Rendon, Los Angeles CA
2017 The Coaster Show 2017 — Curator Matt Kennedy, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2017 Total Dismay Group Show — Curator Jeff Gillette, Escalante Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2016 Beasts in the Basement: An Underground Group Art Show — Curator The Monkeyhouse Society & Douglas Alvarez, Chung King Road, Los Angeles CA
2016 Urban Explorations —Solo, Survey — Curator Kira Vollman, ARK Arts Gallery, Altadena CA
2016 Sticks and Stones Group Show — Curator Douglas Alvarez and Sandra Mastroianni, Cactus Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2016 The Coaster Show 2016 — Curator Matt Kennedy, La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2016 Why is Krampus so Popular? A History and Art Exhibit Dedicated to Krampus — Curator Elizabeth Rowin, The Hive Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2016 HEARSAY : Artists Reveal Urban Legends — Curator Wendy Sherman, Arts District Center for the Arts, Los Angeles CA
2016 Consort — Curators Kristi Engle, Kelly Thompson, Cheyanne Sauter., Art Share L.A., Los Angeles CA
2015 Built Paintings — Curator Lydia Takeshita, LA Artcore: Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Angel City Heritage Festival — Curator Cindy Schwarzstein, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Los Angeles in Perspective — Curated by Wendy Sherman, Redpipe Gallery, Los Angeles CA
2013 "Naughty or Nice" group art exhibition — Curated by Albert Cuellar, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica CA
2013 Winterfest Art Share LA — Art Share LA, Los Angeles CA
2013 Meme Democracy - small works show — illuminoidal arts, Long Beach CA
2010 BonApetite! group art exhibition — Curated by Nouar, Copro Gallery, Santa Monica CA
2010 Art Shack! — Curators Grace Kook-Anderson and Greg Escalante, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, CA
2010 100 Artists See Satan Again — Curator Annie Adjchavanich, Grand Central Art Center, Santa Ana, CA
2009 Ikons! Theme and Variation; 70 Small Paintings — Curator Dennis Cubbage, Grand Central Art Center, Sales Gallery, Santa Ana, CA
2009 Scary Art Exhibition — Curator Troy Tatlock, Raven Gallery, Pewaukee WI
2009 Palm Trees, Street Signs and Powerlines — Curator Lydia Takeshita, LA Artcore: Brewery Annex, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Exchange Rate: 2008 — Curator Karen Atkinson, Remy’s on Temple, Los Angeles CA
2008 Steinweiss, Creator of the album cover — A Tribute, Curators Kevin Reagan and Greg Escalante, Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica CA
2004 Snap To Grid, LACDA, Los Angeles CA
2003 International Print Art Exhibition, Curator Takao Kakuma, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
2001 Imagine 2000, Gavle Sweden
2000 Siggraph 2000, New Orleans LA

Selected Bibliography

“Publishers Go Digital,” Leela Moore and Marie Maber, Digital Fine Artist Magazine, Winter 2000
“Bracing for Animation’s Big Leap,” Rick Lyman, The New York Times, Living Arts Section, August 1, 2000
“Aristide Revealed,” Terry Murphy, PEI-Photo Electronic Imaging, August 2000
“Expanding Art,” Digital Output Magazine, September 2000
“Gallery,” Computer Artist Magazine, June/July 1995

Mr. & Mrs, A. Rivera, Des Moines, IA
Mr. D. Okula, Canada
University of Gavle, Sweden

Selected Teaching

1996-1998 Art Center College of design in Pasadena, CA

Education

1990 BFA, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design

My work lives in the tension between surface and representation. In the play between image and marks, the hidden and revealed image, and an embodiment of sensation. I work to communicate symbolic and emotional states that touch on a combination of personal and universal elements. My latest paintings, in the guise of Urban Landscape, explore the nature of painting, the role of color, and the process of making meaning. The picture plane exists in time and space, a time and space of the artist’s choosing. A relative time and space. Similar to Einstein’s equation, the viewer can learn something if they come to understand their relationship, their “relativity” to the time and space. Encouraging the viewer to consider questions such as “what is an image,” and “what makes meaning?” Would it be the depiction of realistic visual characteristics? What about a fleeting impression? Is it necessary for a painting to be complex or exquisitely rendered? Does meaning come from the subject, the artist, or a combination of both. Can meaning be made without representation? Can representation be present but irrelevant?

These Los Angeles urban landscapes, with a focus on streets signs and incorporating other landmarks and the history of the sign’s environment are my “Campbell's soup cans.” These compelling urban landscapes come from that sliver of time we almost never think about. Each painted narrative describes life in neglected corners of our ubiquitous car culture. In these corners stand the hieroglyphs of navigation: markers that rich and poor alike rely on to maneuver across the labyrinth that is L.A. The electric Southern California light explodes the colors as years are compressed into an instant at the speed of a passing vehicle. These signs tell their own stories now.

The Urban Landscape series is an invitation to reconsider the “ordinary,” in an extraordinary way. Los Angeles is my subject. In urban landscapes, I disregard elements such as traffic congestion, people, and pollution. Instead, I focus on innocuous everyday elements, including street signs and palm trees. I turn these elements into symbols that exert their emotive energy to powerful effect, impelling the viewers’ acknowledgment of beauty in the everyday scene. By examining a sign’s personal history, graffiti, age, weather damage and general mistreatment, the area surrounding them can become a microcosm and a touchstone. Our world is filled with things that provide basic reliable function yet remain unacknowledged. Fading into the environment the signs live in the mental fog of things that are necessary but never considered. The noise of our world, if you will.

"Process plays an important role in my work. I use photography and digital tools to create a structure on which to build my paintings. This, when combined with color, and the artists’ hand, gives life to these works. Brush marks and surface features become the footprint of the creative process and provide a path for the viewer to follow the artist through the picture plane. Passages of abstraction add energy, feeling, direction and counter point to the whole. I work to manage contrasts within the work, both ideal as well as visual.” — James P. Scott

Abstract and representational passages, layering of color, brushwork, texture, and build up of paint combine to create a rich history within the work — like the cracked and peeling surface of an old door providing us a glimpse into its’ colorful past. Within the work are depictions of light, environment, and the passing of time. While drawing from personal experience, wider, universal concerns also come into play: the common lot of humanity as it relates to “So Cal” residents, and other urban dwellers as well. Use of color plays a central role in my work and deserves special mention. The colors are explosive, vibrant and bold. Color compliments, split compliments and other color chords resound across the surfaces, contributing to a feeling of exuberance and transcendence. The power and intensity of palette is something that really sets my work apart. I’m told I get at the power of color in a very striking way.

James was very nearly born in Southern California in the last few days of 1965. But fate interceded and he was born and raised in south eastern Wisconsin. Well traveled in his youth, spending family vacations traveling the US, a teenage summer backpacking trip through Europe, frequent weekend bus trips to Manhattan and day trips to Chicago. James was able to experience first hand the role of art in the world and history. An avid reader and creative person (practicing painting, sculpture and writing), he also pursued his interests in science. At one point winning an award from NASA for doing quite well in a experiment writing competition. In "The World As I See It," Einstein wrote,"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." So even as James chose to pursue art, science remains a major influence in his work.

A combination of things came together at the right time to influence James' decision to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design(MIAD); miad.edu (BFA 1990). One of which was the introduction of the Macintosh computer, enabling him to create art digitally. Enamored with the combination of technology and creative possibilities James felt the lure of an education based in creativity. During this period James also began a freelance career as a graphic designer under the name Night Netwerk Productions. Upon graduation he relocated to Santa Monica, California. For more than 16 years, projects in digital art, graphic design and photography kept Jim's studio busy. His digital images and graphic design have been seen on CD and DVD covers, catalogs and web sites, for clients as diverse as Arbor Sports, Otomix, Disney and Rhino Records.

Photographic and archival prints of James' digital paintings have been shown in Milwaukee, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Japan and Sweden. Collage/photomontage schools informed James developement, style and visual sense. James prefers to work from images he's made rather than appropriate images from outside sources. "This serves to minimize the influence of creative decisions made by others, as much as possible. I'm also able to extend my vision deeper into the work if I have experienced the subject in person. There is a visceral experience from being at the place/space/event being depicted, a deeper understanding and this can be felt in the final work." says James.

As the new century began, James became increasingly interested in incorporating traditional mediums into his repertoire of techniques. Through a very fortunate turn of serendipity Jim came to study under Franklyn Liegel (combined media artist; liegel.com; at the time an instructor at both Otis College of Art and Art Center College of Design). "Franklyn was an incredible instructor! His love of art, materials, creativity and teaching were all available for the student to receive the benefit of. There is a deep beauty in the surfaces and processes in Franklyn's work, it is pure inspiration for the serious student. More of his work should be in collections and museums around the world." says James. Scale, refinement of color sensibility, and the tactile understanding of surface, brought a new dimension to James' work. While exploring subjects from the human figure to abstract expressionism, James refined his brush skills and eye for color.

Current working practice includes explorations of materials and an eye toward creating physically as well as visually substantial artwork. While specific representational imagery is no longer a main focus of James' work, representations of the city James calls home, abound in his works. James seeks to combine many different elements in 2D and 3D, visual and tactile, to create stunning works that are collages of ideas, elements and techniques based in the 21st century and looking forward.