Proposal

James Angel: The Future Is

Artist Statement

The breadth of Angel’s art practice includes investigations into issues like science and physics, mutation and adaptation, non-linear dynamics and quantum mechanics, as well as science fiction and speculative futures in an effort to better understand our place in the cosmos. The range of pictorial imagery in his arsenal, both abstract and naturalistic, represents Angel’s ongoing investigations into the hidden relationships that define the world around us. Motifs from geometry, iconography, nature, and the digital realm all collide on Angel’s canvasses, which speak to the different types of encounters we can have both within and beyond the visual spectrum. Never hemmed in by a particular style or mode of expression, it is the interrelations between different works and larger groups of ideas that makes Angel’s oeuvre unique in the world of contemporary art today. A recent mid-career survey of an artist who has been exhibiting in the Valley for more than two decades represented an opportunity to celebrate the singular vision and commitment of one of Arizona’s most inspired voices.

The pairing of scientific understanding and imagination in these works are intended to create something unique – a series of hypotheticals somewhat lodged between futurology and science fact. It is this sense of hopeful imagination that I think urgently needs to be injected back into today’s ethos. Because computers have transformed contemporary artworks in major ways: especially in terms of where and how it is expressed. Artistic possibilities linked to social and technological evolutions are virtually unlimited. With an increased digitization of our everyday realities, the need for artistic materiality will become even more urgent in order to remind ourselves that we are physical beings. Art is a channel for past, present and future to contact each other. Art helps us to attend to the essential concerns of all human life and relate ourselves to lives in the future. By manifesting what matters most, art predicts what the
future will retain.

At the same time, the appearance of modern computers, barely twenty years ago, is undoubtedly the greatest artistic revolution in progress. Just as the paint tube gave birth to Impressionism, the computer (and today software that allows, 3D modeling and animation, among other things) open up another sea of creative possibilities. It will most likely continue to inform and help shape the future of art.
Modelling of the future mainly happens in businesses or organizations. Banks and other financial companies want to anticipate shifts in the markets. Retailers need to be aware of trends. Governments need to understand demographic shifts and military threats. Universities want to drill down into the data of these or other fields to try to understand and theorize what is happening. As an artist I hope to explore and to postulate on possible, probable, and preferable outcomes and reflect on the worldviews and myths that underlie them through experiential and immersive design practices.

Bio

An internationally published studio artist based in Scottsdale Arizona, James Angel specializes in the creation of original works using painting, sculpture and digital meduims for limited edition prints, personal collections and contemproary commercial art spaces. Recognized as a major contributor  to an emerging downtown arts scene he is one of the founders of the artist collective 3CARPILEUP and the local Chaos Theory annual event. Now in it's 18th year, it has become the most viable approach to engaging local contemporary artists and artwork produced in the region. 

James has studied under and worked with several well known artists and publishers and has exhibited in many galleries and museums. Most recently his work was included in the Bushwick Open Studios Event in New York and awarded in Tilt Gallery's recent juried exhibition, Infinite Possibilities: Art of Tomorrow.

CONTACT US: If you want to know more about this project, how to support the work of this artist or how you can contribute to supporting our programs by e-mailing us at Fineartcomplex@gmail.com.