Traveler 2018

James Jean's fantastical painting, Traveler, conjures the stuff of dreams with its candy colors and hallucinatory take on Renaissance painting. I can see it coming into being through intuition, where each element has shifted and emerged through trial and error. I sympathize with Jean as he builds this world, wondering what he was thinking when he made it. The paint looks like it might be thin, allowing for fluid, graphic lines. A particular brushstroke, like the delicate rendering of the girl's hair, communicates a sense of tenderness and care. The flowers on the horse might recall the work of Yayoi Kusama. Artists are in an ongoing conversation, always exchanging ideas across time. This piece feels like an example of embodied expression which embraces ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations and meaning.