Ama II 2017

James Jean made *Ama II* sometime around now, using paint. There's an opulence to the color in this painting, with the peach background juxtaposed against the blue grey figure, and these mad red swirls in the water. It's so smooth, almost airbrushed, but you can see the faint grain of the wood coming through, and it makes the image so much more engaging than if it were just some slick digital thing. Look how these lines delineate the waves; they remind me of Hokusai’s *Great Wave*, but in a weird way that doesn’t feel nostalgic. The dripping ropes and starfish feel tactile, like you could peel them off. I’m drawn to the figure’s face, the mouth open in a silent scream, and all these tangled nets. Jean’s earlier comic book work informs this in some way. Both Colette Miller's *Global Angel Wings Project* and Jean's murals embrace narrative and symbolism. This piece embodies a dialogue about beauty, constraint, and the fluidity of identity, inviting us to embrace art's capacity for ambiguity.