Sunshower 2018

James Jean's Sunshower is an iridescent dream, a painting that seems to bloom right before your eyes. I imagine Jean conjuring this world, layer by layer, each color carefully chosen to vibrate against its neighbor. I sympathize with the artist imagining what it was like creating this piece. Perhaps he was chasing a feeling, a memory of warmth on his skin, the giddy joy of a childhood fairy tale. The painting feels so precise and thought out, so different from my way of working, but maybe that’s why I like it so much. Check out how the sun character waters the foliage with a watering can. That gesture is so funny, almost nurturing, but there's something unsettling, like a benevolent dictator tending to his garden. Jean is in conversation with artists across time, like Henri Rousseau but with a contemporary twist of surrealism. It leaves you questioning what you have just seen!