Tag: Artist

Bushwick Open Studios

Today I was featured on the Arts In Bushwick blog for Bushwick Open Studios, which I am participating in this year for two days in what I’m calling Metaphysical Delight. Come on by my studio if you’d like Friday or Saturday. Info here.

Below are the questions I answered for them, but also check it out on their site.

AIB: What are five hashtags that describe your work?
JG: #abstract #transformation #decay #life #jamesgodman

AIB: What is your artist origin story?
JG: My art practice started with me as a teen, airbrushing t-shirts in a local mall down the street from my high school in Evanston, Illinois, where people from all walks of life would bring me photographs to reproduce by hand on various apparel. Looking back now, its quite clear that this careful study of photographic images led me to fall in love with photography and use it extensively in my work.

AIB: What is your favorite medium right now and why do you love it?
JG: After much experimentation and work, I’m happy with the processes I use to create my work.

AIB: What is on the horizon for your work in the next year?
JG: In the coming year, I will be furiously creating work and sharing it with a wider audience.

AIB: How has being in Bushwick influenced your work?
JG: Bushwick is an amazing place to live and work. I see and interact with vernacular architecture, surfaces, and people that work their way into my work one way or another. The surrounding sounds also contribute.

AIB: What Bushwick artists do you admire and why?
JG: I admire all Bushwick residents and world residents that are doing their thing, working hard, and helping others.

AIB: Tell us your most memorable exchange during Bushwick Open Studios.
JG: Me: Tell me more about this piece. Fellow artist whose name I’ve forgotten: Thats life itself.

AIB: If a movie is made about your life, who would play you?
JG: A phytoplankton.

AIB: If you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would it be and why?
JG: My Mother, because she is the best.

AIB: What is the future New York Times headline about you?
JG: James Godman, dead at 107 years old.

AIB: Was there something you want to share that was not asked?
JG: Thanks for supporting artists in our community and beyond!

September 21, 2017
Donald Judd Inspired Daybed

Last summer I was shopping around for a daybed that would fit well in my Brooklyn apartment, and I couldn’t find anything I liked or that didn’t cost a small fortune, so I decided to make something myself. As a long time Donald Judd fan, I decided to use his famous design as a starting point, did a few quick calculations, and headed to the Home Depot for some 1 x 12″ Pine boards and dowels.

I wanted the piece to be all natural, so after building it, I used pure Tung Oil thinned with D-Limonene (a liquid hydrocarbon made from orange peels) as a beautiful stain and sealer. The mattress is a twin size natural latex of 3 layers. The hidden storage area is stained with pure eastern Cedar Oil to keep out those pesky moths (it was difficult and more expensive for me to source the actual Cedar boards so I just stained the Pine with the Cedar Oil instead).

Its a real shame I’ve never been to the Donald Judd Foundation, so I’ll definitely be making an appointment soon! Don’t hesitate to leave a comment or question. Thanks!

July 25, 2017
Modern Craft

Modern Craft was kind enough to feature some of my work, and they asked me a few questions.

I had the pleasure of meeting artist James Godman recently. Godman is both a photographer and a painter. His pieces are beautiful and provocative. I asked him about his work and here are some excerpts from our exchange:

What inspires you?
What inspires me to create is a general belief that the experience of making art is at once philosophical, scientific, and aesthetic. It fascinates me to see the kind of self-assembly that takes place when I touch a thinned acrylic to a thinned oil. My painting is informed by my photography and vice-versa. I do both because I love both and am passionate about imagery. A line of tar in the street, that was applied without aesthetic intent and only to delay inevitable decay, may be very beautiful and inspirational.

What do you look for?
With my photography, I try to make images that have a certain timelessness and universality. Sometimes I’m trying to enhance and share the feeling I get and the sounds I hear when I am in a particular place, rather than just capturing what is there. Of course, commercial and editorial photography projects contain certain requirements, and this can be limiting, but I always try to put as much of myself in the work as possible.

Do you like digital photography as much as shooting film?
I think digital is really cool and amazing, and I use it quite a bit, especially for commercial projects. But at this point in its evolution, I do find digital limiting for several reasons. I generally prefer the tonal transitions of film. Also, I have encountered many different types of technical problems with many different digital cameras, including color fringing, which consists of a pink line that occurs around subjects, especially in back lit situations.

Also, I generally love the look of a larger piece of film including 4×5, and I believe that instant capture digital is at the moment confined to the smaller side of medium format. But I was able to get some great images in the more controlled setting of my studio. Digital is just another option to consider.

Where can we see your work?
Lensmodern.com is a wonderful site that is both an online gallery for print sales, and a source for licensing imagery of some really terrific photographers. Its quite unique in this regard, and the imagery is very high quality. I’m proud that the founders invited me to join.

July 22, 2008