Artist Bio
Artist Statement/Bio
James Tailor is a London-based artist whose work incorporates wall-based paintings and freestanding sculptural assemblages, with these differing approaches overlapping and existing autonomously within his practice. Following his BA Fine Art at London Metropolitan University (2015) and MA Fine Art at Central Saint Martins (2017), Tailor was the recipient of the Helen Scott Lidgett Acme Award, entitling him to a one-year rent-free studio and £5K grant, simultaneously partaking in PEER’S Bound (2018), London. Tailor has also been a artist in residence at the Alexander McQueen Foudation, Sarabande.
With a strand of his practice focusing on materiality, Tailor employs his postmodernist abstraction paintings to explore the limitations of paint. This takes the form of self-made paint skin, a laborious technique spanning 8 years of development, impasto and most recently, coagulated paint which uses a spraying application process. This has allowed Tailor to expand beyond the traditional approach to paint through novel and unexpected modes of creation. His assemblage pieces bring together objects which are either abandoned or no longer fit for purpose, using these pieces to convey brokenness or being at a point of collapse, leads to a sense of anticipation. The assemblage invites a sense of hope or potential through transformation, albeit no longer the same.
Tailor has shown in group exhibitions in London, Japan, Brussels and Antwerp and is currently listed with galleries in Germany and Denmark. During his BA, he secured sponsorship from Adidas to produce Platform Six, a LGBTQI group show and charity auction in aid of Stonewall. Collaborations included Nick Knight for Kanye West’s music video ‘Black Skin Head’ and he has worked as an intern for the Chapman Brothers (2016) and a assistant to Phyllida Barlow (2019/20). Previously Tailor has been featured in the Catlin Guide (2015), Extreme Typography Of The Garden (2015), ArtMaze magazine (2018), Exit Ludvig Rage (2021), Public Gallery (2020), among others and has been interviewed by Run Riot (2021), The Asian Curator (2020) The Elizabeth Collective (2020) and Delphian Gallery (2020).
Curriculum Vitae
Website: www.jamestailor.co.uk
Email: Contactjamestailor@gmail.com
James lives and works in London.
Resident at Sarabande Alexander McQueen Foundation (2021-2022)
Work 2018 -2019 Assisting CBE, RA - Phyllida Barlow
Education
2014-2017 Masters of the Arts, University of the Arts - Central Saint Martin’s (Distinction)
2016 Artist Internship with The Chapman Brothers
2011-2014 Bachelor of the Arts, London Metropolitan University (Distinction)
2011-2009 Diploma in Fine Art, City Lit (Distinction)
Exhibitions
2024 - RUNT (Solo Show), Second Act Gallery. London
2024 - Brushcrafters, Second Act Gallery, Prism Contemporary
2024 - Brushcrafters, Second Act Gallery. London
2024 - A Private Affair, Cloud Seven. Belgium
2023 -Safe House 2, Peckham London
2023 - Held in Flux, In Sight Projects London
2022 - Soon This Will Be Over, Sarabande. London
2022 - Solo Show - Held, Sarabande Foundation. London
2021-2022 - In Matters of the Soul, ASC Gallery. London
2020 - Capacity, The Smallest Gallery in Soho. London
2020 - A Matter of Soul, ASC Gallery. London
2020 - No Time Like The Present, Public Gallery. London
2019 -2020 - Bodies Self and Sex, No20 Arts. London
2019 - About Painting, No 20 Arts. London
2019 - White Conduit Projects, The Size of Thoughts. London
2018 - Five Years, Two Cakes. London
2018 - Peer Gallery, Bound. London
2018 - MLF Marie-Laure Fleisch, Art Brussels. Avenue du Port 86C, 1000 Brussels, Bélgica
2018 - Cob Gallery, Form. 205 Royal College Street NW1 0SG
2018 - Observatorium, Club Conscious. Samberstraat 40, 2060 Antwerp
2018 - MLF Marie-Laure Fleisch, In Favour of Three Dimensions. 13 rue Saint-Georges | Sint-Jorisstraat1050 Brussels
2017 - Degree Show Central Saint Martins, Show 1. London, United Kingdom
2015 - Complex Topography: The Garden, Global Art Project. Takamatsu, Japan
2015 - La Cambre, Print! Galerie 425, Brussels, Belgium
2015 – Angus Hughes Gallery, Summer Show. London, United Kingdom
2015 –Laundry, You’re the reason our kids are ugly. London, United Kingdom.
2015 - Charity Exhibition and Auction, Jezebel. London, United Kingdom
2015 - The Catlin Guide 2015, New Artist in the UK. Business Design Centre, London, United Kingdom
2014 - Affordable Art Fair, Recent Graduates. Battersea, London, United Kingdom
2014 - Degree Show, Cass 2014 London Metropolitan University United Kingdom
2014 - Charity Exhibition and Auction, 10x 10. The Shard, London, United Kingdom
2014 - The Threadneedle Prize, Figurative art today. Mall Galleries, London, United Kingdom
2013 - Charity Auction and Exhibition, Platform Six. The Barge house, Oxo Tower, London United Kingdom
2013 - Dalston Lane, Mollify, London, United Kingdom
2012 –Apricot Gallery, Who do you think you are? London, United Kingdom
Projects & Residency’s
2017-2018 – Helen Scot Lidgett Acme Project
2017 – Koppel Project Hive, London, United Kingdom
2017 – Nick Knight Video shoot for Tino Kamal at Show Studios, London, United Kingdom
2015 - Global Art Project. Takamatsu, Japan
2013 - Platform Six London Sponsored by Adidas
2013 – Nick Knight Video shoot for Kanye West at Pinewood Studios, London, United Kingdom
Publications
2016 – Night Flowers (Damen Frost)
2015 – Complex Typography, The Garden (Book)
2015 – The Catlin Guide 2015 (Book)
2013 – Platform Six (Magazine)
2015 - 10x 10 Charity Auction
Awards / Residency’s
2021-2022 - Sarabande, Alexander McQueen Foundation
2017-2018 - Helen Scott Lidgett/ Acme Award
2015 Japan Residency
2014-2017 - Vice Chancellor Scholarship (Central Saint Martins)
2017 – Koppel Project Hive Residency, London, United Kingdom