Dana James' work incorporates multiple mediums and textures, with the idea of materials transcending their nature. James' paintings coalesce bright, pastel palettes with recycled canvas and other unorthodox materials such as flecks of tin foil and iridescent encaustic that create surprising glimmers of light embedded within opaque color fields, evoking the magical play of moonlight or the glinting of the ocean.
References to Americana suburbia are found in her pastel color schemes and contoured shapes. Manipulating materials to create sublime effects that recall nature, she endeavors to capture memory and ephemerality as a feeling or moment caught in time. Drawing from the tradition of twentieth-century color field painting, James gives form to captivating dualities—transience and permanence, geometric and amorphous, light and dark.
Dana James graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2008 and has exhibited widely across the US and Europe. In 2020, Daily Collector featured James in the article “Top 20 Artists Shaping the New Decade.” James’s artwork has also been featured or reviewed in Artforum, New York Magazine, Two Coats of Paint, and Hyperallergic. Her work is in private and public collections, including UBS Art Collection and Gibson & Dunn.