Artist Lecture no. 4: James Sienna

"I thought about doing it, so I better not -Not do it. So I did it."

Uh huh. This guy is incredible. He creates mathematical images directed by self imposed rules, equations, standards. “I make moves… when I make a painting I respond to a set of parameters, like a visual algorithm.” Each column halves itself. No lines should touch. Lines are parallel at top and bottom. Fibonacci sequence divides the space progressively. All lines are to be acute angles. And then he paints.  It seems as if each painting evolves into the next; now the combs should multiply, now that side should divide, now... It just seems so lovely. His titles are after thoughts, something he refused to do for much of his artistic career. It seems as if they describe the rules followed, and in some, as if they are written before the painting is created. Upside Down Devil Variation, Forty-Six Combs, Multi-Colored Nesting Unknots, Double Recursive Combs, Nested Boustrophedonic Unknots, Narrows Mantilla. Someone commented on the way some pieces start very straight and ruled, but as variations conjure into existence they seem to sway and BREATHE. Wow. That was incredible. Try and tell me that Coffered Lattice (with crosses) doesn't appear to be in mid-sigh. This guy spoke as lovely as he paints. He made it a conversation, literally encouraging people to shout out questions and comments, he laughed and joked, made lots of marijuana references, "This one still looks good even without the marijuana," "I use cheap materials, I couldn't afford nice paint- well maybe if I had a smaller marijuana budget.." The whole thing just seemed comfortable, this is a generalization, but I almost enjoy the atmosphere of painting and printmaking lectures more than -GASP- Photography & Film. In the introduction they gave him they said lots of things but this was the statement that rang most true: "His painting Think as good as they Look." ... Here's some more things they said:

Siena’s work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions at galleries including Pierogi 2000 in Brooklyn, Gorney Bravin + Lee in New York, Daniel Weinberg in Los Angeles and PaceWildenstein in New York and over 55 group exhibitions throughout the world including the 2004 Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial. The recipient of multiple honors and awards, Siena received an Award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (2000); the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Competition Award (1999); and The New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting (1994). Siena lectures and teaches at numerous institutions throughout the US, including the Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio; San Francisco Art Institute; School of Visual Arts, New York; Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York; and the Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond.  Siena completed an artist-in-residency program at Yaddo in 2004 and 2007, and recently was elected a Director of Yaddo. James Siena currently lives and works in New York City and the Berkshires.

James Siena’s work can be found in numerous public collections including the Des Moines Art Center, Iowa; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Museum of Fine Art, Boston; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sedalia, Missouri; McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, Texas; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Philip Morris Collection, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.