Art and Photography by James Spell
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About the Artist.

James has been painting since 2002. He has a bachelor of arts from UM-St Louis, half an architecture degree from Washington University, extensive experience with painting, photography, writing, cooking, and otherwise enjoying the intricate complexities of the human experience.  Outside of art, James enjoys playing board games, cooking, running, adventuring, spending time with his family, and laying under trees without his glasses, watching light swirl through summer leaves.

Though many of the works in this portfolio exist in groups, there is no over-arching "theme", except that it is mine; to me, art is an exploration of nonverbal, visual communication, and each piece, each artist, and each viewer, have their own language. This creates an inherent diversity of styles, flavors, meanings, messages, and intents, making exploration of the conscious and subconscious minds all the more rewarding. The ephemeral connections between the artist and the viewer are not always obvious or direct, but nonetheless those connection exist, waiting for the viewer to feel the work.

Photography is an interesting medium in that on one hand is an expressive art form, but on the other is taken as a truthful representation of events. It can bridge the gap between fact and fiction or go either way- it can completely represent a specific moment in time, build an elaborately manipulated falsehood, or be an amalgam of the two, with a very hazy and indistinct border, leaving the viewer to wonder if the hyper-reality in the photograph is real- assuming that the viewer even looks for those clues. Such a wonderful playground cannot be passed up. 

This crazy, dynamic, amazing universe in which we live is a rich and rewarding place, and we should throw ourselves into it with abandon.  The world is a better place because we make it better.
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