Mark James

Mark studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College London - birthplace of the famed ‘YBA’S’ - Artists like Damien Hirst and Sarah Lucas. Mark went on to study for his master’s in film and television at the Royal College of Art. He worked as a studio assistant to artist Sir Michael Craig-Martin for several years prior to making a number of critically acclaimed films on the arts including “FREEZE” for the BBC: The first TV documentary about Damien Hirst’s revolutionary exhibition that transformed the British art world. Further film subjects included Carl Andre, Richard Hamilton, Picasso & Matisse, Van Gogh, as well as celebrated figures from the worlds of dance, architecture, and music. Enriched by working with such a wide range of inspiring, high profile artistic personalities and their work, Mark felt compelled to return to his first passion. He now divides his time between filmmaking and painting.

Colourful and playful, Mark’s paintings are intelligently structured to create juxtapositions of shape, space and colour. They evoke a mid-century aesthetic of modernism; a kind of future set in the past. Inspiring, positive and optimistic, the paintings are created to, and often named after, the sounds and songs of the jazz - swing era. Uplifting and joyful, the paintings were described by art critic of the Sunday Times Waldemar Januszczak as “Pop Suprematism”. A number of Mark’s paintings form part of the esteemed Groucho Club art collection that has been at the centre of London’s art world since the birth of the ‘YBA’S’ (Young British Artists).