Herman James

Studios in a country setting in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, and at the Brooklyn Artist Space, Brooklyn, New York City.

Statement

What I don't want to read in any artist's statement is hyper-philosophizing about how their work connects to the grand schema of aesthetics and past art making. All reasonably-educated artists see these things as evident in any artist's work.

What I hope to hear stated is how that artist dug down, threw stuff out, found a way that makes sense, simply found a pathway to invention. I want to hear about experimentation, taking a chance, where that went and how anything was achieved.

In this spirit, then, I show you the raw, elemental black and white work Untitled 13-VL-1 that, when I stood it up onto the wall from my worktable, said to me, this is a game changer.

Then finally, how I have proceeded from that exciting moment.

Resume, Selected:

ONE PERSON SHOWS
• Dutch Kills Gallery, New York, NY; 2009-10
• reinerTisch, Berlin/Friedrichshain, DE; 2005
• Micromuseum, New York, NY; 2003
• Fort Point Gallery, Boston, MA; 2003
• Museum of New Art, Detroit, MI; 2001
• Space Twelve, Boston, MA; 1999
• Kougeas Gallery, Boston, MA; 1999

GROUP SHOWS
• Aesthetica Magazine Honoree’s Show, Aesthetica Art Prize, York, UK; Show inclusion/ publication
• Art4Barter, Seed on Diamond Gallery, Philadelphia, PA: 2012-’13; curated by Antonio Puri
• Dutch Kills Gallery, New York, NY; 2009-10
• Project Night: Location One, New York, NY; curated by Brina Thurston; 2009
• A Book About Death: Emily Harvey Foundation, New York, NY; curated by Matthew Rose; 2009; shown in 26 cities worldwide with copies of the show currently in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• Surface: BAG Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; curated by Michele Jaslow; 2009
• Plus One: BAG Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; curated by Peter Wallace; 2008
• Rockers and Posers: BAG Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; curated by Michele Jaslow; 2007
• Human Artefakts: Taranaki Arts, Wellington, NZ and four other locations in NZ; curated by Dale Copeland...