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“Holding on to Happiness (...not Ilean too),” an autobiographical painting depicting his life from December 7, 2014 to May 23, 2020. This painting is an expression of loss, one that weaves together a symbolic story that continues the theme of “A Family Portrait,” examining what life looks like today versus ten years ago. ames’ work is acutely aware of how time relentlessly moves forward and as life wears away our mortality, it also hones our attention to focus on what is most important to value. The self-portrait reflects a silent sadness that sits with James when reflected in a mirror, though he finds himself still standing. The compounding loss of his beloved mother, a move far away by his father that dissolved his cherished sense of a nuclear family, followed by the death of Ilean, his first pet shared with his partner, Barney.
In the portrait, James is seen holding his beloved cat in a pose from their annual New Year’s Eve party family picture and Barney is seated in his wedding attire from the 2016 town call ceremony. Barney is positioned forward, an allusion to James’ future, and smiling as a symbol of happiness. Other elements include three cats at the bottom, symbolizing the years the couple fostered strays, and James’ shirt, which is patterned after a set of linens that shroud Ilean in his arms.
A vase of pink lily of the valley are placed next to his Mom, who is rendered as a framed photograph on a curio filled with fragile crystal china carefully arranged to keep safe and protected. The curio’s treasures read as a map to James’ past, an ephemeral, very personal assemblage of items that remind James of where he has been and, in turn, point to where he is going.
The partial view of a painting at left includes subjects of a ravaged Potsdam scene post–World War Germany juxtaposed with The Crucifixion, a religious story of knowing one’s fate, but exercising the strength to walk that path forward with dignity — not unlike a cancer journey. In the depiction of the statue of the very human Mary Magdalene character left behind and bereft in grief, the tiny portrait’s arm extends beyond the artwork (to touch the cat) and thus blends the story — art — with reality. Mirroring this, the etched patterns of the near transparent vase behind James’ head, burst like heart-shaped tears that cry, blurring the lines of where life and art begin and end. All this while the lavender roses, rusted with time, are laid to rest in the lower-left corner.
The painting represents a storied path of an artist whose life is deeply saturated and dedicated to the arts, yet whose personal goals of painting are always just beginning as he weaves biographical subjects in and out of his life, based on career, travel and a constant quest to find beauty in subjects that connect us all. James’ portraits represent the intimate truths of the painter’s life with paintings as a shared diary of discovery and created for art’s sake.