James Jean

Taiwanese-American, born 1979.

James Jean fuses contemporary subjects with aesthetic techniques inspired by traditional Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, and Renaissance portraiture. By experimenting with different styles and art-historical genres, Jean depicts detailed cosmological worlds that focus on both individual and universal experiences. His small-scale pieces feature single figures engaged in everyday tasks, and are focused on specific narratives and emotions. Jean’s large-scale works recall complex Hieronymus Bosch paintings and majestic Tang Dynasty landscapes. Layered with imagery drawn from both contemporary culture and age-old allegories, the artist imagines a collective realm of mythological proportions.