Claerwen James’ paintings take photographic images as their starting point. Using old family photographs, film stills, or images from magazines as source material, the identity of her subject is usually unknown and irrelevant to the artist. Rather, her work explores the private moment, frozen in time, between sitter and photographer, inviting the viewer to create a narrative for the image. James rarely integrates background detail into her pictures, but often uses a dividing line to create the sense of a horizon which draws focus to the figure. This strategy is achieved effectively through the medium of screenprint which is suited to graphic mark-making and dramatic contrast, as seen in James’s ‘Untitled’ print made at the studio with Kip Gresham.
James has exhibited her work regularly with Flowers Gallery in London and New York since 2004. She lives and works in Cambridge.
