Artist James Spell’s luminescent abstract paintings show his mastery of space and rhythm, and the powerful impact of color and texture. “The paintings I’m working on now are an interesting combination of abstract impressionism, pixel art and bokeh photography. I use them as a means of emotional communication,” he says.
“I’ve been painting since my college days in 2002, but I began to approach painting professionally in 2020, when the pandemic started, and I’ve been working to set myself up for success ever since,” he says.
James Spell with his dog, Chance
His participation in the local art community over the last five years led him to work as a studio artist full time. He showed his paintings at the curated Biannual Art shows at the Angad Arts Hotel produced by Vanessa Rudloff. “My participation there helped me move forward with confidence as an artist,” he says. He applied for and was accepted into the St. Louis Art Fair’s Emerging Artists as Entrepreneurs Program helmed by executive director Sarah Umlauf.
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Spell’s education in art history, architecture, urban design and photography heavily influences his work. “There’s a major overlap between experimental abstract painting and architecture,” he says. “Though the materials and techniques differ, both shape the experience of a space, establishing a vibrant connection from the artist to the viewer at a raw, visceral and profoundly emotional level,” he says.
A detail of the painting “Giverny I” emphasizes the striking textural details of Spell’s works.
Spell creates his paintings today with a palette knife, not a brush, working in impasto techniques. He uses paint and mediums to create tactile, visually textured canvases. “The nature of these paintings is that when the light hits them at a certain angle, you get amazing dramatic shadows. The light changes add a layer of dimensionality that’s hard to get with a brush,” he says.
His paintings, with studied application of paints in layers and modulations, draw people into his booth at art shows. He paints his life experiences exploring nature as a Boy Scout, working in the garden with his father, paddling a canoe on a hot July day down the Current River, watching the sun rise over the mountains in New Mexico, in bold swaths of color.
Sometimes Spell’s art isn’t joyful, but thought-provoking and revelatory. Spell painted deeply personal canvases in 2019 when his mother died of cancer, including “Waves Roll Away from the Shore.” The landscape, with the faint suggestion of a house, references the Welsh concept of hireath, or the longing for a home to which you can never return.
His art is also his truth, as evidenced by his sculpture for “Your Voice, Your Seat.” The sculpture project, developed by artist Carolyn Lewis, will be displayed in multiple galleries throughout town through 2026.
In “The Price of Acceptance,” Spell invokes a sharp, candid discussion about the physical cost of hormone replacement therapy.
“Carolyn approached me to create a sculpture to address the challenges we face as a nation and as a society,” Spell says. Lewis gave eight artists a dining room chair from her parents’ home with the idea that everyone, each distinct voice, deserves a place at the table and a chance to be heard.
The show is designed to inspire meaningful conversations about differences. We all have a right to be heard. Spell’s chair, “The Price of Acceptance,” addresses the need for and the physical cost of hormone replacement therapy. “Hormone replacement therapy is a personal decision that is not limited to the trans population,” he says.
Spell’s sculpture used blunted and sanitized needles glued to the chair seat to trigger a conversation, to have his voice heard. “These needles hurt; there is a physical cost to hormone replacement, and most of the needles in the chair are mine,” he says. He laments that a decision that should be between doctor and patient, for any reason, has become a political football.
“The drop of testosterone in men is a major issue in America. We can blame microplastics, we can blame food, we can blame this or that and the other, but to correct the imbalance involves injecting hormones into yourself to maintain the physical ability to participate in society.”
Inspired by Claude Monet’s water lily series, Spell created “Giverny I.”
The next gallery showing of “Your Voice, Your Seat” opens with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 12. It runs through May 30 at Webster Arts Gallery, located in the Desoto, at 2 Summit Avenue in Webster Groves. Participating artists include Samantha Clarke, Natalie Coriell, Nicholas Holman, Carolyn Lewis, Luisa Otero Prada, Brock Seals, Jessie Schoenrock and Spell.
