Austin A. James Art Book Signing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Austin A. James

CONTACT:
Mandi Giallorenzo
Operations Manager
Talulah Belle/HESS
2011 Abrams Pkwy
Dallas, TX 75214
(214) 821-1927
www.talulahbelle.com

Austin A. James art book signing at Talulah & HESS, Saturday, October 10, 2015 from 4 - 6 PM.



ARTIST STATEMENT
Austin A. James was born in Putnam, CT. He lived the first six years of his life in Bennington, VT before moving to Houston, TX in 1973. Austin has lived most of his life since 1973 in Houston, TX.
Austin began his art career in 1994 as a poet. His love for playing with words and phrases and his love for color naturally led him to experimenting with paint and motion. He started painting in 1996 and exhibiting as a professional artist in 1997. Austin believes that art is energy. Each human being has his or her own unique form of energy. An artist is capable of translating this energy into art. Austin’s pieces focus on organic shapes, color, the natural flow of matter and motion. His MFA from Naropa University in Poetry has infused a lyrical sensibility into Austin’s work.
“I love color, movement and lyrics in my art. To be successful, the art must be memorable when one turns away.” Austin James
Austin Allen James is a Visiting Assistant Professor of poetry, composition and literature at Texas Southern University, where he has taught since fall 2012. Prior to TSU, Austin taught in the Houston Community College system for Seven years. As a gallerist and entrepreneur, Lawrence & Crane was founded as a roaming Gallery in 2001 that quickly evolved into an ever growing footprint culminating into a 3500 square foot gallery in the historic West side of downtown Houston next to Allen Parkway and the Buffalo Bayou between River Oaks and Freedman’s town. In 2007 we moved into the wholesale business by partnering with The Mix in the Dallas World Trade Center. After ten years in the gallery retail business, we shuttered our gallery to fully follow our passion in the wholesale industry. Our decorative and fine art line has developed from decorative hearts and crosses to a full ensemble of gift items and a fine art component that grows leaps and bounds market by market. Lawrence & Crane is named after the middle names of the owner’s children. Our job is to follow the path of beauty while considering how we can influence trends in the wall décor and gift industries. As a visual artist, Austin is currently represented in design galleries throughout Texas, the Midwest and the Southern United States, as well as New York City. Mr. James received his Master of Fine Arts in Poetics from Naropa University. Austin lives in Houston, Texas with his children Granger and Baylies. SIVA is his first full-length collection of art images.
Austin’s formal education includes a BA from Southwestern University in Georgetown, TX, an MBA from the University of Dallas and his art education is a Master of Fine Arts from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado as well as 45 hours Post Bachelorette at the University of Houston in literature, poetry and French to prepare Austin for his MFA.
Austin ran a Gallery, Bering & James, for 10 years (2001-2010) in Houston, Texas. Austin and his partner separated and closed the gallery so they could follow their own artistic endeavors.
Artist Statement:
I work in crushed pigments, oils, acrylic, resins and mixed media. The art is ethereal and organic by nature.
I love color, movement and lyricism in my art. My art is Diaphanous and ghostly; allowing for spheres of meditation. Each piece mimics “motion standing in place”.
I employ resin in order to create an altered and present reality. Resin pushes a successful painting to create a feel of stepping through a looking glass into a secret scene: a captured world.
My mission in art is to continue the tradition of the color field and lyrical abstractionist painters of the 20th century and contribute to the development of form through experimentation with techniques and materials.

Publications/Reviews
2015 SIVA, LCPubs, hard cover coffee table art book due out in October of 2015
2014 Brackish Water, LCPubs, debut book of poetry fro Austin A. James
2014 Gallery Artists Part XI, catalogue, Walter Wickiser Gallery New York, NY
2013 Art News, “Reviews: New York”; ‘The New Abstractionist VIII’ Walter Wickiser Gallery, 11/2013
2013 The New Abstractionist VIII, catalogue, Walter Wickiser Gallery New York, NY
2011 Non-Objectivity, catalogue, Walter Wickiser Gallery New York, NY

Education
1989 – Bachelor of Arts, Business major Political Science & English minors, Southwestern University Georgetown, TX
1992 – MBA, Management, University of Dallas, Irving, TX
1993-1996 – University of Houston 40 hours of post baccalaureate work in creative writing, french and literature, including a Summer of ’96 abroad program to Bourges, France
1998 – MFA, Poetry, Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, Naropa University, Boulder, CO


Find Austin A. James on social media via his website: http://www.lawrenceandcrane.com