Aurelians 2016

James Jean’s ‘Aurelians’ is a world unto itself, bursting with color, figures, and flora that seem to grow from the canvas. I imagine Jean working, intuitively layering these elements, maybe stepping back, re-approaching, letting the painting shift and emerge. Look at the flatness, the cartoonish quality and the illustrative use of line. There is something both very contemporary and traditional about the overall effect. It reminds me of Elizabeth Murray. I wonder if Jean thinks about her work too? The figures are a curious mix of innocence and knowingness. The colours are bright but strangely muted, clashing and harmonizing at the same time. Each little face has the slightly creepy quality of the children in Henry Darger’s paintings. The artist's vision unfolds as we look, creating a space of imagination. Painting is a conversation across time. We are all influencing each other and it’s this continuous dialogue that keeps art alive.