James Caudle

"To Have & Have Not"
8" x 10"
acrylic, wax, paper collage on canvas
2011
$300

Artist Statement:

I spent my childhood and early adult life growing up in the South which instilled in me a love of story telling and the Folk Art traditions..  I spent several years learning techniques and searching for what it was that inspired me before taking a collage class; I have been cutting out little pieces of paper and gluing them to larger pieces of paper ever since.

   My mixed media collages combine historic and graphic images in textured color field environments.  Removing figures from their cast off status in thrift store books and garage sale finds I add them to my own worlds; I give them new life as the classic characters of the literary works I surround with which I myself. The figures become heroic again when they begin to interact with each other on the canvas.  One of my favorite quotes is by the Surrealist Max Ernst: “collage is two unknown elements meeting on a third unknown plane”. I begin with these unknowns and build, seeking out, with glue and paint, the reasons for the interactions I am seeing.

   Two scraps of paper lying together or the random colors happened upon during the day slowly form themselves into the final work.  I often feel as if I had happened upon a scene that is elusive or impenetrable and I try to make sense of the melancholic rituals which I observe coming together.   Often, a random phrase read or lyric of a song overheard while deep in the process sheds light on the work I have been creating.  

The painting forms and I find I have built a new story, new characters, to add to the lexicon.

Biography:

Education:

1999    Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL

Group Exhibitions

2011    Collective Stories, Fremont Abbey, Seattle, WA
           Core Sample, Core Gallery, Seattle, WA

2010    5 x 5 at 619, 619 Arts Building, Seattle, WA
           Art Monaco Salon d’Art Contemporain, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
           Bad Lattitude, Gallery Golden Point, Nummela, Finland
           Slaughterhaus Rose multi-media (videos), Artopia, Seattle, WA
           10 & Change, Twilight Gallery, West Seattle WA

        
2009   5  x 5 Group Show, La Familia Gallery, Seattle, WA
          Aqua Art Wynwood, Miami, FL
          Viva Los Hombres!, Collins Pub, Seattle, WA
          Slaughterhaus Rose Annual Showcase, City Trees, Seattle, WA
          Elysian Brewing Company, Seattle, WA

1999    BFA Graduate Show, UWF Fine Arts Gallery, Pensacola, FL

Solo Shows
2010     Negotations & Love Songs, La Familia Gallery, Seattle, WA
            Vip Lounge, Elysian Fields, Seattle, WA
            LA Familia Featured Artist, Packard Building, Seattle, WA

2009      Fables, La Familia Gallery, Seattle, WA

2008      Works, Elysian Tangletown, Seattle, WA
             New Works, Veloria, Seattle, WA

2005      A Series of Unreleated Events, Café Darwin, Seattle, WA

1999      BFA Graduate Show, UWF Fine Arts Gallery, Pensacola, FL