Anthony James's Art Works
Anthony James is a British/American artist based in Los Angeles, known for his monumental and performative sculptures and installations. His work gestures towards minimalism, materiality, process, alchemy, language, mechanization, and experimentation with light and space. Michael Slenske interviewed James about his work in 2017 and wrote: “Though he claims a lot of his art is about esoteric concerns, death and rebirth, and a certain spiritual energy, he also argues, ‘A lot of the art is in the correction of a mistake or maybe it is the mistake. I’m very open to what comes to me. I feel like certain things are serendipitous.'”
Anthony James is co-founder of There-there Gallery with Lauri Firstenberg. There-there’s mission as a new production company is to “produce exhibitions, films, and editions in order to promote ongoing collaborations with local and international artists.” There-there opened in Hollywood in 2017. Anthony James' work has been exhibited internationally in galleries, museums, and art fairs. His book, Morphic Fields, was originally published in 2014.
Famous Projects:
Portals/Icosahedrons, 2011-present
The Portals/Icosahedrons are made from titanium, LED lights, and transparent mirrors. Art historian Rachel Baum wrote about the show that “Anthony James’ work takes up the concepts of the universal and transcendental in order to demonstrate the impossibility of their representation.
Birch Series, 2005
Birch Series consist of several variously sized, vertical light boxes with young birch tree trunks inside. The works have mirrored sides, which give the illusion of endless birch forests. The birch tree is associated with “birth and rebirth”.
Kalos Thanatos, 2008
James gained international recognition in 2008 for his work Kalos Thanatos (KO), Greek for “beautiful death”, when he burned his Ferrari F335 Spyder in a birch forest, and then displayed it in a mirrored glass box with birch tree trunks.
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