The world is the stage for James Jean, an artist whose collaboration with South Korean pop band BTS was showcased at the HYBE INSIGHT museum in Seoul in 2021. Jean has closely with the carvers and printers at the Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints to complete the sixth title in his special “Muse” series of woodcut prints.
<p>James Jean（1979- ）</p>
James Jean was born in Taiwan and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Renowned for his virtuosic ability to work across different genres with an imaginative and multifaceted approach to image making, he has held exhibitions of his fine art in New York, Los Angeles, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo. Jean fuses contemporary subjects with aesthetic techniques inspired by traditional Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, and Renaissance portraiture. By experimenting with different styles and art-historical genres, Jean depicts detailed cosmological worlds that focus on both individual and universal experiences. Layered with imagery drawn from contemporary culture and age-old allegories, he imagines a collective realm of mythological proportions. After a groundbreaking collaboration with Prada for their fabled Spring/Summer 2008 collection, Jean returns for Prada's Resort and Spring/Summer 2018 collection. Jean also worked closely with Guillermo del Toro on the poster for the Oscar-winning film, The Shape of Water.
彫ーCarving
Focusing all of his attention on the point of his knife, the carver creates smooth, elegant lines.
Always viewing everything in the universe from his own unique perspective, James Jean fluidly expresses his world view through beautiful lines. The carver deciphers the intention of the artist, James Jean, and rhythmically carves the gracefully flowing lines. The carver's intense focus and precision is required for the work of carving delicate lines with a single knife.
摺ーPrinting
Light and brilliant colors are born from materials and techniques that are unique to Japan.
The light and brilliant colors of traditional woodcut prints is produced by using a Baren rubbing pad to rub water-based colors into the fibers of the paper, which is carefully handcrafted from paper mulberry. The printer feels the world view of Jean and his artwork "Chine" as he mixes and prints the colors on top of one another.
