James Jack » Art Writing

Colors Born in Light

jamesjack — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 04:16:14 +0000

On a cloudy April day, just as the first cherry blossoms were beginning to open, I met Shingo Francis at the Kawamura DIC Museum, in Japan, where his work featured in the exhibition “The Unseen Relationship: Form and Abstraction.” Born in Santa Monica, California, in 1969, Francis’ works are saturated with layers of thin oil washes that draw the eye closer to what the artist calls “the Abyss.” Despite having an oceanic aura, Shingo’s perspective is not one of looking across the sea as in traditional landscape paintings. Instead, his perspective is one of being submerged or immersed in the ocean, unable to recognize sky from saltwater.

Read the full interview I did with Shingo Francis at Art Asia Pacific online

Installation view of SHINGO FRANCIS’ Bound for Eternity (space), 2011, and SAM FRANCIS’ Untitled (Blue), 1951–52.

This Is Just What it Is

jamesjack — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:44:22 +0000

I did an interview with Rei Naito talking about her current exhibit at the Kamakura Museum of Modern Art. Please take a look at it on Tokyo Art Beat.

Rei Naito, 'Grace' (2009) Photo: Naoya Hatakeyama

Not like “On” and “Off”

jamesjack — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:04:07 +0000

My interview with ON Akiyoshi Megumi is now up on TAB. In it we talk about her site-specific installation for this year’s Sustainable Art exhibit, flower power and brightening up the toilet room! Check it out here

ON Megumi Akiyoshi, 'Blooming Steps' (2009) Interactive video projection. Photo: Simon Luethi

Seven Vaults of the Sky

jamesjack — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:29:02 +0000

I recently did an interview with Iranian artist Sara Dolatabati. Click here to read it.

Sara Dolatabadi, 'Under the Skies of Tehran' (2009) Installation

Book Review

jamesjack — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:20:49 +0000

I recently wrote a review of Art, Anti-Art, Non-Art: Experimentations in the Public Sphere in Postwar Japan 1950-1970 for the College Art Association.

Report from Niigata

jamesjack — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:47:23 +0000

I have just posted a brief photo report of highlights from the Echigo-Tsumari Triennial in Niigata. Check it out on Tokyo Art Beat‘s site. While it is impossible to summarize such a diverse and spread out exhibition, these were some of the works that I enjoyed during the opening week.

Now that I think about the show it feels like the spaces in between the artists’ work are actually more significant than many of the works themselves. The installations themselves are intriguing but their site-specificity leads one toward the landscape and people themselves, somehow bringing the little details of the inaka that so often go unnoticed into focus. If you do make it out to see the show this summer my best advice is: get lost.

The most fascinating aspects of the area are in the winding back roads and dead end alleyways.

Photo: James Jack

The Story of a Walk Told with a Needle

jamesjack — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:04:05 +0000

I recently did an interview with Sayaka Akiyama for Tokyo Art Beat. Check it out here

Sayaka Akiyama (left) explains her work to James Jack. Photo: Ryu Furusawa