James Jean: In His Own Words

In anticipation of James Jean’s exhibition Sintila at Baik Art Gallery, Grafis Masa Kini was able to attend his talk at Museum Macan and have a brief chat with the artist afterwards. He makes connections across images, candidly speaking of his own journey of embracing his creative lineage and ‘belonging’ to a diaspora. James also spoke of the organicism of his process, and the importance of moving from intuition.

GMK: What triggered your foray into finding other parallels with other artists? 

James Jean: My work only exists in the context of the art that’s already been created around me. So, I love art, and I’m constantly looking at art. I think maybe your question points to the fact that some of my work has similarities with a lot of historical art, and the connections that I found by accident? Well, this (recognition) is kind of like a recent phenomenon because I’m only able to  notice it, after having created work for a long period of time. 

Especially with all the gravings like Areldur, and even certain cultural figures like Sho Ji Pi-Li from my Sunflower character, those are really surprising and really interesting connections that other people have made for me. I’ve just sort of embraced that parallel because it just shows that whatever you make doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it kind of exists in this continuum of creativity. 

GMK: I asked you this question, because I feel like as an artist you have to go through this sort of ego death - to move away from an overidentification (of self) with your art - to embrace those alignments or similarities in creative work. Do you generally see yourself as part of this cultural lineage of creativity, and is it just with Asian-American artists or within the broader Asian diaspora? 

James Jean: I think it’s more within the diaspora, because it has been experienced as a modern phenomenon, something that everyone is kind of currently contending with. What’s become interesting recently is that now it’s become more difficult as countries are kind of silo-ing themselves off. Whereas with the histories of globalisation, there’s always been a mass transit and immigration of peoples’ abroad, so, it’s interesting to see it swing now the other way. 

But now that I am in my mid-40’s, I think that this is the age where you maybe have amassed a wisdom to really confront what those issues mean; what identity means. As someone who is a father and sees how my son deals with his identity, it has been completely different (from my own), because he lives in LA and also Japan, and he’s able to kind of easily have this fluid existence between these different cultures — you know cultures that are also changing in it of themselves: Japan is rapidly changing and the same is happening with the US, we see its identity is crumbling right before our eyes. 

So, everything exists in that kind of continual entropy, and then as you get older, you kind of see the pattern: things break down and you build up and they break down again. I think that’s the same with identity, you have this idea of yourself and then, that kind of breaks down. And then you have a crisis, and then you build yourself back up. If you face another crisis, this cycle just happens over and over again until you’re dead.

GMK: But it is actually interesting that your practice, well at least from the way you’ve described it, has been about an embrace of the fluidity of yourself and your life, even your relationship with culture. Do you find that maybe for the next trajectory of your work, there will be more experimentation and dialogue with this “diaspora”? 

James Jean: I hope so. Actually, that’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. It’s… How do I bring that conversation about the diaspora into my own work, because a lot of people have been wondering about that. I guess it’ll just emerge by itself naturally over time. I think if I had a clearer narrative, that might’ve helped me navigate the art world, because it helps create the scaffolding for both the audience and curators to talk about your work. Honestly, my work tends to be very imaginative and whimsical; maybe in a way that doesn’t speak to ‘real’ sociopolitical issues. It’s very intangible, which brings a sense that maybe I’m trying to escape those issues. 

So, I’ve been trying to create more of a dialogue, and one that feels authentic. I hope to bring a fresh perspective about this in the future. I don’t know when that’s going to happen, I’m just going to keep letting the work flow through me and see how that develops. 

GMK: It’s interesting that you mentioned the “real” and the “imaginary”, as well as your action of both “confronting” and “escaping”. So, how do you thread that balance between what is in your imagination and what is real? 

James Jean: Well, I think that’s the power of the image, the image can carry so much meaning and weight, even though you don’t intend on it. You don’t intend on imbuing the image with that (meaning); it has it upon its own. 

I think that’s the magic of creating art, you’re almost like a vessel letting the energy of the world flow through you. As you create this image, it will carry a power on its own. I think when you are too self-aware or too intentional with creating, it strips away the aura within the work. That is what I’m after, I’m trying to let that aura develop on its own. 

I think over time maybe that’s why my work has spoken to a lot of people, because I’m not too explicit in what it is that I’m trying to say with it. It’s only after the work is complete that it can tell us what it’s about.

GMK: Now that you’ve mentioned aura, I noticed a consistency in the aura of your characters, and of your world. Oftentimes, there is a childlike wonder and also many homages to nature. Did you always intend to create from that “same place” in order to achieve this consistency of aesthetics or as you said aura? 

James Jean: I like to let things develop organically so I’m working purely from imagination and let that flow through me. I always think about “why don’t I draw this particular way?” or “why do my characters turn out this way?” or “how do my compositions always end up looking like this?”. I’ve noticed that this is actually something out of my control, so I feel very blessed and fortunate that I’ve been able to develop my hand-mind connection throughout my work – and to this degree. But, really, it has nothing to do with conscious effort. It’s just letting my intuition take over, that’s where you see all the natural elements emerge and the characters achieve a life of their own.

GMK: Have you always had this interest towards nature? 

James Jean: I like nature but I wouldn’t say I’m in love with it. I love being in the studio and being indoors [laughs]. So, maybe that’s how nature expresses itself through me. 

In general, I just love the visual world so I’m always taking and editing photographs when I’m not painting. I’m obsessed with making pictures and images, that’s just how I’m wired. You know when I was young, very early on, I became obsessed with looking at photographs in magazines and movie advertisements. And as I grew older, I started copying those pictures in drawing form and as I discovered comic books, I started to figure out how to draw them as well. 

I guess we’re all just wired a certain way, and I’ve just been built to scribe the world visually through drawing and painting. 

GMK: Do you think the Internet has played a pivotal role in your sourcing of images?

James Jean: Yeah, absolutely. But when I was in art school, I’d have to go to the New York Public Library and look in their picture collection. What they did is they would organise every single thing you can think of in the universe in these Manila folders. Say if you wanted cars, you have to go and take out these folders of cars, and they would have magazine clippings just cut out from National Geographic. Any picture that you think of a car is in there, you just have to flip through these crazy photographs and go down these different rabbit holes. This was a very analog way of discovering new images and getting references of your work. I still think back on these days fondly, because now the Internet (especially now) is really horrible. When you’re trying to find reference material, a lot of the photos aren’t real anymore - it’s a lot of AI-generated crap. This is an enshittification of everything profoundly disturbing and unfortunate for humanity. But to answer your question, yeah, I’m chronically online so I’m also a part of the problem.

GMK: Do you ever worry if your work ends up being on some AI-generated technology? 

James Jean: Yeah, you know what I have so many concerns. But at the end of the day, it’s hard to turn the tide. 

In the beginning, I’ve been curious about AI and I still try to keep up to date on everything that’s happening. I don’t like how it’s a wholesale theft of everyone’s creative work, it’s almost robbing us of that aura. You see creative work online, and suddenly, you’re suspicious. Everything becomes suspicious, now, human intention and effort is just wiped away because of this new invention. I’m still trying to figure out what that means, and it’s honestly very depressing when I think about it. Which is why I just want to focus on my work and not have to think about the repercussions - too much. But, you know artists are very sensitive [laughs], right? I think everyone is kind of feeling this anxiety about the future right now and where things are headed. 

The thing that I’ve always loved about art was it was something constant, and immutable like painting, drawing, sculpture. It’s something that we’ve always done and value. Somehow now, there is a huge seismic shift (in technology), and I’m still trying to contend with it. I don’t know if I have any answers for that at this point.