James Jean: A Love Letter

In this post I'd like to take a minute and share with you all an artist that inspires me every day and who really cracks the boundary for modern artists while keeping a firm toe in the realm of classical art. His name is James jean. Many of you may know him already and have possibly seen him without even realizing it. He started off like most of us-- at art school. To avoid a biography lesson i'll just jump to what really kicked off his career. Fables. James Jean is most widely known for being the cover artist for every issue of the graphic novel series Fables up until Volume 13. I will kink his website below so that all of you may, if you wish to, venture into his world and stare in awe at his craft. The Fables covers that kick-started his career are beautiful themselves but once you see the work he has created and posted onto his site you will understand by infatuation/inspiration with him. Artists such s James Jean have challenged both modern and classical art by keeping a firm ground in both realms. Now i'd love to get into a full-on debate about what makes art and what makes Art but since this is a LIT class I'll refrain myself.

The art style that I believe James Jean practices is something that may artists in this medium have found themselves achieving careers in. Things like video game art, both in concept and in-game. Things like story boarding for films both live action and animated. There are so many new mediums for fine artists and animators to pursue. Even the world of graphic design has become invaded by illustrators who wouldn't mind their characters and art style promoting a certain product or company. James Jean is a perfect example of this. First, making the covers for Fables for 75+ issues (that means he created 75+ original covers for every issue and thats not counting the concept art in the back which he also took part in). After that James Jean found himself being asked by companies like Prada and an AIDS awareness campaign where he made posters for condoms, which are amazing if you can find them. For Prada, Jean illustrated several posters as well as animating a short film showing off a Prada clothing line that features his art printed on shoes, shirts and jackets. James Jean accepted these commissions while continuing to draw for fables and attending comic-con and some how, amongst all of that, he still found time to draw in his moleskins and paint for himself.

James Jean's art features surrealistic narratives that feel as though they move across the canvas when no one is looking. Some of his earlier work shows off his perfection in realism and his later work reflects the more experimental edge that sets him apart from most modern and many classical artists. The works contain an essences of rawness, they float in a space that can be both haunting and inviting all at once like the first plunge we take upon entering a dream. These pieces of Art challenge what it means to draw and paint works that may appear like the fan art from some game or the concept art from a movie but are actually original images. Artists such as James Jean take on the experimental realm and illustrate our dreams so that we may look upon them and remember where our minds took us the night before while we slept. In a time where art is being molded into so many different shapes, it is a relief to see new artists who approach classic art with open arms while wielding their surreal imagination simultaneously. If you enjoy James Jean then I highly recommend a footstep-follower of his named Joao Ruas. I would also recommend subscribing to magazines like Juxtapoz and Hi Fructose.

Nick

James Jean:

http://www.jamesjean.com/work/2008/Willow+Horse/1

Joao Ruas

http://feral-kid.com/