Juliet James, UK Visual Artist
Juliet James (b. 1971, Sunderland, UK) studied at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, London (BA Hons Fashion) and went on to have a twenty year career in Design as well as Finance / Marketing Information industries. Her diverse skills spanned work in Fashion Design, print-making and Illustration, TV production and costume design. During this time, Juliet continued with her artistic practice, using her background in fashion and photography to influence her first love: painting.
Juliet’s work centres around “The Beauty of Nature”. She draws on inspiration from the shapes and forms of the natural world, both plants and the human figure, to create paintings filled with expressive yet refined lines. Her work is characterised by fluid, continuous brush-strokes that are executed with a minimalistic simplicity that appears deceptively primitive.
Child-like at first appearance, the subject matter in Juliet’s paintings is very much adult in content; presenting a striking contrast between naïvety and knowing. Nudes (mainly female, sometimes male) are a prevalent subject. The human figure laid bare in her paintings becomes an allegorical device for hidden emotions and secrets, of which the viewer is invited to explore.
Aesthetic quality is an important aspect of Juliet’s art. Surface pattern, colour and elegance is promoted but played with in the form of little subversive twists of edginess and trompe-l’oeil, to bring a touch of surrealism and playful humour to the canvas.
Juliet has been painting full time for the past decade, exhibiting regularly. Exhibition highlights included the 250th RA Summer Exhibition and her solo show “Shade: Shadows & Shadowbans” in London. She divides her time between studios in London and East Sussex, UK.
