Carry On Painting

James Buckley is a mixed media artist living and working in Bath, UK. James has been exploring and refining his skills as an artist for many years. After graduating with a BA in Fine Art and History of Art from The University of Reading, James initially worked in industry as a freelance designer and photographer before becoming an Art and Photography teacher. This allowed James to further explore his visual language, feeding into the development of his own skills in printmaking, painting and digital work. The culmination of his work and experience is translated into his creations today. James’ work is a reflection of both his internal and external world. After being diagnosed with a chronic illness in 2016, James’ art has, in one part, been an exploration and an outlet of the internal turmoil of coming to terms with the change to his life and body. The translucent layers in his work serve to provide a rich language of abstraction and metaphor offering a glimpse into the experience of the artist. On the other hand, his work is a record of his external world. Fragments of everyday scenes and objects are painted, printed and collaged together acting as a celebration of moments gone by. His spectrum of media includes acrylic, house paint, found paper, prints, oil pastel, spray paint among others. His exploration into the combination of materials and processes is ongoing and organic with decisions often being made as an instinctive response to an existing outcome. James connects to the viewer by way of a shared human experience; both on an intimate emotional level as well as a visceral material one.