James Jean
Biography
James Jean was born in Taiwan and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York. He currently lives and works Los Angeles.
Renowned for his virtuosic ability to work across different genres with an imaginative and multifaceted approach to image making, 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 has returned after a decade for Prada's Spring/Summer 2018 collection. Recently, Jean has also worked closely with directors Darren Aronofsky and Guillermo del Toro on poster designs for mother and The Shape of Water.
Source: Kaikai Kiki GalleryAwards
2008 Bronze Lion, Cannes Lions Festival 2008, Cannes, France.
2008 Best Packaging Design (Nomination), Grammy Award, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Best Cover Artist, Eisner Award, San Diego, CA
2008 Best Publication Design, Eisner Award, San Deigo, CA
2007 Gold Medal, Society of Illustrators, New York, NY
2007 Best Cover Artist, Eisner Award, San Diego, CA
2007 Best Short Story, Eisner Award, San Diego, CA.
2007 Best Cover Artist, Harvey Award
2007 Gold Medal, Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Best Cover Artist, Eisner Award, San Diego, CA
2006 Best Cover Artist, Harvey Award
2005 Best Cover Artist, Eisner Award, San Diego, CA
2005 Best Cover Artist, Harvey Award
2004 Best Cover Artist, Eisner Award, San Diego, CA
2001 Alan M. Goffman Award, New York, NY
2000 Gold Medal, Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles, CA
2000 Gilbert Stone Award, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2000 Jellybean Photographics Millenium Award, New York, NYExhibitions
Born in 1979, Taipei, Taiwan.
EDUCATION
1997-2001 B.F.A. The School of Visual Arts, New York, NY B.F.A
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Seven Phases, HYBE Insight Museum, Seoul, South Korea
2019 Eternal Journey, Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
2018 Azimuth, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2015 Zugzwang, Hidari Zingaro Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Parallel Lives, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Rebus, Martha Otero Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009 Kindling, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Running. Qingdao Art Museum, Qingdao, China
2021 The Eyes Have It. Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, NY
2020 Show Me The Signs, Blum and Poe Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 California Love, Galerie Droste, Wuppertal, Germany
2016 Juxtapoz X Superflat, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
2016 Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
2016 Juxtapoz X Superflat, Pivot Art + Culture, Seattle, WA
2016 Takashi Murakami's Superflat Collection―From Shōhaku and Rosanjin to Anselm Kiefer―, Yokohama Art Museum, Yokohama, Japan
2014 Masterworks, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA
2014 SuperAwesome, Oakland Museum of Art, Oakland, CA
2013 Vitruvius, Martha Otero Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2012 City of Fire, Stephen Webster, Beverly Hills, CA
2012 Gin & Juice, Ivory & Black Soho, London, UK
2011 Rebus Book Release, Art Catalogues, Ahmanson Building, LACMA, Los Angeles, CA
2011 Oniomania, Martha Otero Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2010 L.A. Secret Studio: David Choe & James Jean, Parco Factory, Tokyo, Japan
2009 GR Biennale, Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Just In: Recent Acquisitions from the Collection, Leonard Dobbs Gallery, Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
2008 Beyond Baby Tattooville, Members Gallery, Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, CA
2006 Panelists 2, Giant Robot Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006 Black and White, Compound Gallery, Portland, OR
2006 Unforgiving, The Changing Room, New York, NY
2005 Idols of Perversity, Bellwether Gallery, New York, NY
2005 Soothsayers, Scion Installation Space, Culver City, CA
2005 Characters, Scene II, Silvermine Guild Arts Ceter, New Canaan, CT
2005 Characters, Scene I, Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, NJ
2001 International Printmaking Competition, SoHo20 Gallery, New York, NY
PUBLICATIONS
2019 Seoul, Korea. Lotte Museum of Art. Eternal Journey
2018 Los Angeles, CA. OVM. Azimuth.
2015 Tokyo, Japan. PIE Books. Pareidolia.
2015 Los Angeles, CA. OVM. Xenograph.
2011 San Francisco, CA. Chronicle Books. Rebus.
2010 San Francisco, CA. Chronicle Books. Rift.
2009 San Francisco, CA. Chronicle Books. Kindling: 12 Removable Prints.
2009 Richmond, VA. AdHouse Books. Process Recess: The Hallowed Seam, vol. 3. Text by James Jean
2008 San Francisco, CA. Chronicle Books. XOXO: Hugs and Kisses (Postcard Book).
2008 New York, NY. DC/Vertigo Comics. Fables: Covers by James Jean. Texts by James Jean and Bill Willingham
2007 Richmond, VA. AdHouse Books. Process Recess, vol. 2. Text by James Jean
2005 Richmond, VA. AdHouse Books. Process Recess, vol. 1. Texts by James Jean and Paul Pope
SPECIAL PROJECTS
2013 Velum, Installation at Lane Crawford, Hong Kong, China
2010 Birds and Boys, Installation at 3.1 Phillip Lim, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Trembled Blossoms, Animated Film for Prada S/S 2008 Collection
2007 Wallpaper & Fabric Prints for Prada S/S 2008 Collection
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
2012 Lecture, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA.
2011 Lecture, RISD, Providence, Rhode Island.
2009 OFFSET, Dublin, Ireland
2009 Semi-Permanent, Auckland, New Zealand
2009 Institute of Contemporary Art, London, UK
2008 Atlanta Art Forum, Savannah College of Art and Design, Atlanta, GA
2007 Semi-Permanent, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2007 Lecture and Demonstration, Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA
2005 Lecture and Demonstration, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
MUSEUM AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA
LOTTE Museum of Art, Seoul, South KoreaWebsite
Showing the single artwork