“I think the best paintings of mine are born from the deepest recesses of the mind, from dark and surprising places.”
A timeless dreamworld where East meets West
Taiwanese-American artist James Jean makes contemporary pop art that has captured the imagination of the art world and popular culture. His colossal internet following is a testament to his instantly recognisable style, which mixes a comic and manga sensibility with the detailed prowess of Renaissance painting and traditional Japanese wood carving. In his early career in the 2000s, James worked as a cover artist for the historic publisher DC Comics. During his time there, he became renowned in the industry and won numerous awards. Decades later, James is an internationally acclaimed artist fam...
Taiwanese-American artist James Jean makes contemporary pop art that has captured the imagination of the art world and popular culture. His colossal internet following is a testament to his instantly recognisable style, which mixes a comic and manga sensibility with the detailed prowess of Renaissance painting and traditional Japanese wood carving. In his early career in the 2000s, James worked as a cover artist for the historic publisher DC Comics. During his time there, he became renowned in the industry and won numerous awards. Decades later, James is an internationally acclaimed artist famous for his painting, drawing, and digital artworks, as well as his sculptures and installations.
Along with exhibitions at major museums around the world and collaborations with the likes of Prada and Apple, James still returns to his roots as a cover artist, having designed many film posters, including Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Shape of Water, which won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2018. This mix of fine art and popular culture is emblematic of James' career as a whole. It's the juxtapositions in his work that create the magic. Inferno (2019), for example, is an epic remake of Jigoku Zoshi, or Hell Scroll, a famous 12th-century Japanese scroll painting. Effortlessly mixing old and new, East and West, digital and analogue, James finds a perfect harmony between opposites – a dreamy balance of history and our modern day world.
Bio
James Jean was born in 1979 in Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to New Jersey, USA with his family at a young age. He now lives and works in Los Angeles.
Accolades
A Bronze Lion from Cannes Film Festival in 2018 and Grammy nomination for Best Packaging Design in 2008 - in addition to innumerable art world achievements - attest the artist’s far-reaching cultural cache.
Did you know?
Kendrick Lamar sported one of the artist's designs on the VMA’s red carpet in 2017, from a series of collaborations with Italian luxury fashion house Prada.
