A collection of works with midcentury modern inspirations - color, art, design, fashion, pop culture and iconography.

midcentury modern

acrylic and mixed media paintings with collage and objects, on wood or canvas

collage paintings

acrylic and mixed media paintings with collage on canvas, 48 inches +

oversize works

These collage paintings explore the patina of aged and weathered materials. Impressions of out West, ghost towns, scrapyards, salvages, antiques and the abandoned. Ephemeral without the ephemera.

Oxides series

SPACE TRASH

works on paper

This series is currently in progress and reserved for exhibition. If you are interested in this style, please inquire about commissioned work.

Vehicles of Colour

Synesthesia paintings are ongoing and incomplete, as they will include all numbers. For the time being, these pieces will be on reserve for exhibition.

Synesthesia

A catalog of formative early works from 2011-2016. Experiments, failures and breakthroughs featured in the "Breakers & Bastards" exhibition (Winter, 2019).

Breakers & Bastards collection

Wayfinders are a series of handmade collages inspired by “cairns” or the art of stacking rocks. Used as route markers, memorials, burial mounds and zen gardens, this practice can be seen in many cultures throughout the world and history. I created the collages as aerial view compositions; stacking and arranging paper similarly, exploring shape, color and spatial relationships. These works are relatively consistent in form, but each is individual in spirit.

The originals vary in size, composed on 11x15 inch cold press Bristol paper. They come titled, signed and packaged with a certificate of authenticity. Open edition prints are also available in limited sizes - these come as shown.

Wayfinders

The Love & Happiness series is a collection of abstract paintings and sculptures that act like a mixtape, with an accompanying soundtrack. In my work, I am often looking for the intersection of cultures and age. The pursuit of love and happiness is a concept universal to humanity, the common threads among all people. 

 In creating this body of work, inspiration was drawn from music; a curated playlist of lighthearted pop, R&B and soul from around 1975-1985. Visually, the pieces represent a departure from the vintage ethos, offering a reflection of the modern world, today. My inspiration for colors has been coming from the unnatural, man-made world, from sneakers to gadgets, broadcasting and neon lights, etc, etc.

Love & Happiness

Each collage in the Horizons series is hand-cut and glued on heavyweight cold press paper, with archival mat and backing to fit a 16x20 frame. Signed originals, no reproductions. $200 (+S&H)

Horizons

The Inkblots are a series of 36 handmade collages in glorious vintage Technicolor. Inspired by Dr Rorschach's inkblot tests, each collage is cut and composed symmetrically, with subtle variations between left and right. Sourcing printed material from Life magazines of the 1940s-1960s, these mid-mod creations offer psychedelic visions that stimulate and focus the viewer.

Inkblots

Monument paintings

Jim Ford’s series of Stripes paintings began as an epiphany, a resolution between maximalism and minimalism. 

The collection represents a concrete architectural style emphasizing parallel lines and layers that change with perspective for the viewer. Space is the picture frame for these works. The Stripes paintings interact with the perception of the viewer, while engaging in conversation with the room through color, line and texture. 

The pieces are individual and cerebral like much of Ford’s work, each carrying a unique concept suggested in their titles. Created between 2017 and 2020, the Stripes paintings are supported by a few select works that informed the series and developed the techniques.

Stripes

Sarcastically named, the Patent Pending series is a collection of small paintings on wood, employing a consistent “assembly line” style production process. Sometimes painted in tandem, each of these pieces captures a uniquely individual mood or subject, while they also work well in groups. 

The Patent Pending paintings are a signature style of collage painting, incorporating flat graphic colors, decollage and transfers. Painted on thick hardwood board and immaculately finished, these paintings are chic, affordable and add character to any room.

Patent Pending

“Xerox Paradox” is a series of experimental collages created by hand with a photocopier and traditional collage techniques. It began as a weekly ritual exercise, a dance with the machine. The photocopier has long been a tool in my work; this developed from my graphic design work which is influenced by low-fi art and punk rock esthetics. Each piece in Xerox Paradox captures and preserves something immediate, an instantaneous gesture. The images are highly distorted to begin with, created in a matter of seconds, and remixed to create the larger picture. Surreal psychedelia, physics-defying landscapes and mines of subconscious ether, that’s Xerox Paradox.

Jim Ford

Collections