Exclusive interview with Nathan James. Brought to you by Antipoda  
Latest Artwork by © Nathan James 2005. Watch › one · two · three · four

Nathan James is a Canadian artist currently living and working in Toronto.
Interviewed by Sam Woolf
Nathan James is a young Canadian artist currently living and working in Toronto. He creates striking images that combine elements of portraiture with graphic art. His paintings often give the viewer a tantalizing glimpse of larger, undefined narratives. Strong personalities emerge from Nathan's canvasses to act out both the salient and mundane moments from their emotional lives within the viewers' mind. Nathan uses a combination of techniques including traditional painting, silk-screen printing, and digital manipulation to achieve his distinctive works. He finds inspiration from many sources including graphic design, vintage photography, popular magazines and his own passion for skate culture. His work can be viewed online on Antipoda under Canada or at http://www.ndjames.com/
Q · So first of all  - some background - I know you are based in Toronto now. Is this where you grew up and have always lived, or have you lived  in different countries/cities?

A · I was born in a small mining community in northern Ontario, Canada named Kirkland Lake. When I was three my family moved to the south of Ontario where I grew up mostly in the Hamilton-Dundas area. It was about 6 years ago that I moved to Toronto to attend Art College. I also spent close to a year in Italy but other than that I’ve been around here.

Q · When did you start painting and creating? What is the earliest piece you remember being proud of, and who gave you encouragement at the start of your artistic career?
A · My mother used to paint when she was younger. I think I was about 12 or 13 when I found her old paint box in the basement. From there I started painting on bits of cardboard, drywall, broken skateboards – whatever I could get my hands on. Looking back all the stuff I was doing it was pretty awful but I was into it. My mother was always very supportive, you know, buying supplies and providing tones of encouragement. Moms are good like that
Q · Where did you study and what do you remember of the experience of being at art college?
A · My first year of academic training was spent at McMaster University in Hamilton in conjunction with a program at the Dundas Valley School of Art. It’s a great little school where the faculty gives the students lots of personal attention. Had a great time there. After that I moved to Toronto to attend The Ontario College of Art and Design. I wasn’t very happy at OCAD. There is lots of attitude there, nobody smiles, and the level of bureaucracy is insane. It’s a wonder anything ever gets done. The one redeeming aspect of my time at OCAD was the Florence, Italy campus. I spent my third year there and it was very positive experience.
Q · Am I correct in thinking you are now working full-time as an artist?
How long have you been able to do this for? How difficult is it for artists to support themselves entirely through their work?
A · I do work full-time as an artist and have been doing so for the last 2 years. I think living exclusively off your work can be a very difficult thing for young artists to do. I’ve been very lucky in that I have come into contact with a few collectors who have been very supportive of my work. Campbell Becher and Mark McKenna are two in particular that I owe a huge debt of gratitude.
Q · OK so now some questions about your work. Perhaps to start with, could you tell us about one of your favorite pieces from your portfolio and explain what it is about and how you came to create it?
A · That’s a tricky question. I like most of them for different reasons. Sometimes I find that I can be less enthusiastic about a piece after its finished but then grow to love it over time. This, of course, can work the other way around as well. I would have to say that lately “The Invisible Bard” is a piece that I take a certain amount of pride in. The archetypal image of a couple embraced in a kiss is somewhat of a cliché but I find that most often the motif utilizes young lovers. I had this great image of a middle-aged couple kissing and I really wanted to do something interesting with it. It is difficult to tell in reproduction but in the far left of the composition an image of Shakespeare is silk-screened repeatedly for about 2 1⁄2 feet. I closely matched the colours of the screen and the wall so that the Bard’s image would only be perceptible in a certain light or at certain angle. I was trying to express that the mystery and poetry of love isn’t the sole property of the young but is something that can follow us all, even if at times obscured, throughout our lives. I’m a bit of a sentimental fool
Q · A lot of your images might be described as portraits. Do you think of them this way? Who are the people - are they people you know, and do you get them to sit for you, or are you working from found images and photographs?
A · Regarding your first question I would say yes and no. I find particular satisfaction in working with found portraits and even specifically seek them out when searching for images. However, portraiture in the traditional sense, tends to occupy itself with the physical and psychological idiosyncrasies of the sitter. I more use the photos as a starting point and make many changes and edits as I work through the painting. Once finished it most often looks remarkably different than the source material that I began with. It is for this reason that I tend to shy away from using friends and family as models.
Q · You use a lot of graphic elements in the backgrounds of your images, and also experiment with techniques like silk-screen printing. Can you tell us a bit about how you developed this style and about the processes involved?
A · Lately my Mac and Photoshop are best friends. Be it for translating an image into a silk-screen template or using the “blending options” option to make those gooey blobby things I’m fond of. I spend a lot of time at the computer. Other than that the graphic elements you’re speaking of are simply silk-screened on.
Q · Some of the background elements look like they are 'found' images that have been translated from other media  - is this correct? Where do you source imagery from? Do the elements you use in the background ever inspire or influence the character of the foreground figures or is  it the other way round?
A · The internet is the best utility an artist like me could ask for when it comes to looking for found images. If, for example, I decide I want to use the Powell-Perelta “Bones Ripper” for a silk screen I can easily perform a Google image search and have a variety of options available in seconds. This is something that would have been much more difficult even 5 years ago. There are occasions where I can’t use these methods to find exactly what I’m after and I’ll have to go out and shoot it myself. It still ends up getting processed through the computer though. Like I said, I’m on my Mac a lot. Regarding the conceptual interpolation between the graphic and painterly elements – I find that they help shape the context of one and other. I’ll often just have a gut feeling about one thing working well with another and it is only later that I begin to formulate my interpretation of what is taking place in the painting.
Q · In your artists statement you talk a little about how some of your paintings start out from 'short narratives'. So would you say the images are like a snapshot taken out from a story - like a still taken from a film perhaps? Do you ever try to write the narratives down in a literary form, or are they purely visual? Are these narratives fictional or could you describe your paintings as documentary or auto-biographical?
A · Yeah, I guess you could say that. The narratives I work with, like the found imagery, are more of a starting point for me. I would like to think that my work possesses a certain ambiguous dynamism that could resonate with different viewers in different ways as opposed to the paintings being a specific snapshot taken from a linear dialogue. I obviously have my own ways of interpreting what is going on in my work but I would never assert that this is the only, or even correct, way of looking at them. Writing the narratives down? I’m a painter and not much of a writer so I prefer to keep my work visual. Also, I would think that most artists would say that auto-biographical elements inevitably creep their way into their work. For me it could also just as easily be about something I’ve seen, heard, or read about.
Q · Which other artists (current or historical!) influence your work or inspire you?
A · I try to look at lots of stuff. I’m incredibly inspired by artists like Caravaggio, Norman Rockwell, John Currin, Richard Phillips, Will Cotton, Lisa Yuskavage, Kristin Calabrese, Damian Loeb, Pontormo, Bellini. I could go on but you get the idea. Mostly figurative but I’m also terribly interested in mass media as well as industrial and graphic design. I actually work in a really nice Herman Miller Equa chair. I feel bad ever time I get paint on it.
Q · What is your studio or the place that you paint like? Are you neat and methodical or do you prefer to be surrounded by chaos? Do you work alone or do you like to have people (other artists?) around whilst you work?
A · My studio is very neat and there are rarely people over. I think I prefer to paint in solitude though I do talk to myself a lot while I work.
Q · What music are you listening to?
A · Different stuff. I really need new music. My current playlist includes: David Bowie, Arcade Fire, Miles Davis, Wolf Parade, The Shins, The Ramones, The Clash, Kool Keith, Postal Service, The Stills, Sloan, and many others.
Q · What are you working on right now?
A · Today is the first day of a much needed two week vacation. When I get back I have 4 paintings left to finish off the large-scale silk-screened figure-ground work. Then a few odd paintings here and there and then I’m not sure what. Maybe take a break from the silk-screen process and think of something new to do.
Q · What will you be doing in 6 months, 6 weeks and 6 days time?
A · 6 months- probably just more of the same, painting and eating shake’n bake chicken. In 6 weeks I’m hoping to be in the arms of this cute French girl I’ve got the hugest crush on. Things are a pretty messed up with us right now so I’m not sure what the odds of that happening are. 6 days- I’ll be smack dab in the middle of some much needed R&R on my family’s land in the north. Very much looking forward to that!
Many thanks Nathan for taking the time to answer these questions, it's much appreciated! I wish you the best of luck with all your work in the future.