June Artist of the Month
Art At The Kent Library
Sponsored by The Friends of Kent Librarywith Arts on the LakeExhibit: Stadium SeriesShow Dates: June 2nd-3oth
James Sparks
I am a visual artist painting primarily with oil on canvas or linen.
What invigorates me as an artist is achieving that revelation when patterns, textures and imagery cohere into a unified design that redefines the subject matter. With the stadium series, the geometry of the architecture (seats, enclosures, etc.) provides a repetition of patterns in contrast to the mayhem of the crowd. In the study of decaying leaves, parallel floorboards provide order to the random assembly of leaves. If successful, the randomness of the imagery is experienced in a more formal, abstract context. For many years now my subject matter has focused on the theme of complexity and diversity as found in nature, especially when the scale is manipulated and enlarged. This theme, where movement, space and form interact, presents itself in my paintings of stadium crowds at sporting events as well as in more recent paintings of dried leaves accumulating in a corner of my porch or that congregate along the pathways that meander in the wooded area behind my studio.
As a young child growing up in Boston in the 1950s, my father would take me to many iconic Red Sox/Yankee rivalry games at Fenway Park, and like today, every game was a sellout. I remember being mesmerized by the colorful and animated sea of faces, the loud cheering, and the sheer energy of thousands of fans packed so closely together.
The two paintings on display at the Kent Library are part of my “Stadium Series”, a group of works that capture the visual energy between the multitudes of different personalities, contrasted by the geometric, regimented architecture of a sports stadium.
For more information go to www.jamesbsparksartist.com or contact me at sparksphoto49@gmail.com
"Daunting Diagonals", 52" x 46", oil on linen, $2400. (Yankees)
What invigorates me as an artist is achieving that revelation when patterns, textures and imagery cohere into a unified design that redefines the subject matter. With the stadium series, the geometry of the architecture (seats, enclosures, etc.) provides a repetition of patterns in contrast to the mayhem of the crowd. In the study of decaying leaves, parallel floorboards provide order to the random assembly of leaves. If successful, the randomness of the imagery is experienced in a more formal, abstract context. For many years now my subject matter has focused on the theme of complexity and diversity as found in nature, especially when the scale is manipulated and enlarged. This theme, where movement, space and form interact, presents itself in my paintings of stadium crowds at sporting events as well as in more recent paintings of dried leaves accumulating in a corner of my porch or that congregate along the pathways that meander in the wooded area behind my studio.
As a young child growing up in Boston in the 1950s, my father would take me to many iconic Red Sox/Yankee rivalry games at Fenway Park, and like today, every game was a sellout. I remember being mesmerized by the colorful and animated sea of faces, the loud cheering, and the sheer energy of thousands of fans packed so closely together.
The two paintings on display at the Kent Library are part of my “Stadium Series”, a group of works that capture the visual energy between the multitudes of different personalities, contrasted by the geometric, regimented architecture of a sports stadium.
"Colorful Crowd", 52" x 60", oil on linen, $2500 (Mets)
