Jai James

Jai James, New Blood Emerging Art Prize nominee and 2023 graduate from Gray's School of Art, is an artist whose practice encompasses video, installation, sculpture, lino cut and charcoal in an arresting array of styles and approaches. Across all these mediums, Jai's work plays with the tantalising gap between internal and external perspectives. Jai's charcoal works 'Oblique I' and Oblique II' show a fine draughtsmanship and intense concern with connection, polarity and intersection. Featuring a range of carefully placed contrasting shapes softened by the smudging of the charcoal medium, lines and shapes that at first appear concrete are, upon closer inspection, rendered only by the fading shadows of their outlines.

This focus on connection and polarity is carried over into installation, with 'Tree in Agony' displaying the same contrasting linework played out in three dimensions, as the rusted steel bars intersect with the organic form of the white popular, the tree's upper section hollow and blackened, revealing yet another space of connection with the steel bar that runs through its centre. At first stylistically at odds with his other featured works, the lino cutting 'Men-An-Tol' depicts an ancient Cornish site containing four stones, the most famous of which is upright with a circular hole in its centre. Traditionally, people who pass through this central hole as part of health of fertility rites, revealing yet another concern with connection and intersection.

David Blyth, Contemporary Art Practice Course Leader and Academic Strategic Lead (Fine Art) at Gray's School of Art:

Jai James approaches his work with a deep philosophical and contemplative perspective, delving into the connections between natural and cultural imagery and experiences. His art often embraces minimalistic styles and subtle juxtapositions, inviting viewers to reflect quietly on the intricacies and meaningfulness of their existence in the present moment.