'All and Nothing' (solo show) at Joshua Liner Gallery, New York

Joshua Liner Gallery is pleased to announce an upcoming exhibition with UK based artist James Roper. This will be Roper's first solo exhibition with Joshua Liner Gallery as well as Roper's solo debut in New York. 'All and Nothing' (Gallery II) will consist of new acrylic on canvas paintings and several new works on paper. Among the acrylic on canvas paintings is Roper's newest series of works entitled 'Exvoluta'. The "characters" depicted in this series embody diety-like forms influenced by the imagery of Hindu gods, Christian saints, and comic-book Superheroes, all rendered in glorious material excess beyond the reach of the natural. The opening reception will also be on Thursday, April 14th from 6 - 9pm.

Please contact the gallery for additional information.

Joshua Liner Gallery
548 W 28th St. 3rd Floor
New York, New York 10001
212-244-7415
joshualinergallery.com

'Paroxysm' (solo show) at ®artspace Barcelona

Paroxysm (solo show): 18.05.2010 - 17.06.2010

®artspace Barcelona
Carrer Girona 61 Local 02,
Eixample. 08009 Barcelona. Spain.
+34 934 673 598

www.rojo-magazine.com/bcn


"By constructing abstract bodies formed from multiple elements these works mimic the complex bodily structures found within nature. Biological machines such as the human body process and retain energy and any processes placed under restraint will result in an intensification of it's eventual release. The work attempts to portray this intermediate state as control gives way to chaotic abandon and a transition occurs from one state to the next. Roper is heavily influenced by the excessive and sensuously rich imagery of Baroque art and it's depiction of the unfettering of religious restraint. Instead of the gentle ushering of the spirit towards the heavens his paintings spit, ejaculate, regurgitate and projectile vomit the spirit out, rejecting it's bodily form in a fit of maniacal hysterics, a nonsensical reflexive outburst like the spasmodic speaking in tongues of those 'slain in the spirit'."

'Hypermass' at ®artspace Milano

Hypermass (solo show): 19 November 09 - 20 December 09

®artspace Milano
Via Tortona 17-19. 20144
Milano, Italy
+ 39 02 894 230 87

www.rojo-milano.com

"James Roper's work explores a variety of subjects from the heightened realities depicted in Baroque art and modern media to the restraint and release of energy found within complex structures such as the human body. In his first solo show in Italy, James Roper presents a new series Hypermass, where the compositions are constructed using images specifically appropriated from japanese animation (anime). Forms such as hair or body structure are highly caricatured in anime resulting in a visual style that can be read adversely as either an intensification of concrete reality or an evasion into escapist fantasy."

My art reviewed in Art Review

Part of the London art reviews marathon '4 critics, 7 days, 100 reviews'

www.artreview.com

Construct

Construct is an accumulation of polyhedra forms I made from modular origami over a three year period.
Also known as 'Bucky balls' (after the American architect Buckminster Fuller who was known for his use of geodesic domes) they are built out of a number of 'Pentagon-Hexagon Zig Zag (PHiZZ) units' each made from a square piece of coloured paper.
They have the same geometric form as a Fullerene (carbon based molecules, also named after Fuller) which are used to build structures in Nanotechnology.

More images of the installation on my website

'Into the Fold' at Forster

Into the Fold (solo show): 7 November - 20 December 2008

FORSTER
1 Chapel Place
Rivington Street
London
EC2A 3DQ

+44 (0)20 7739 7572
info@forstergallery.com

press release:

FORSTER is proud to present James Roper’s forthcoming solo show, ‘Into The Fold’, a much anticipated collection of stunning new paintings and a site-specific installation in his first exhibition at the gallery.

Roper draws upon his own library of photographs as a foundation for his striking paintings, whilst also obsessively trawling and utilizing a plethora of visual material found on the internet, including fashion, animation, and advertising. Each of the artist’s paintings result from his re-digestion and translation of these collected pictorial tools, with his superior use of paint.

‘I predominantly choose images and try to create forms which I feel register a visual 'peak shift', a term given to the phenomena of 'neurological attraction' that appears in both humans and animals to an extreme characterization of an object.’ – James Roper

This ‘peakshift’ is core to the artists work. Present within advertising, Hollywood blockbusters, haute couture fashion, as well as in extreme forms of body exaggeration such as bodybuilding and pornography, the artist extracts the key element of the image, that causes such heightened visual excitement. By isolating ‘peakshift’ images and merging them through collage, the intention is to intensify the visual triggers so that they form a sort of neurological hyperactivity.

In addition to contemporary source material, James Roper’s work has been heavily influenced by Catholic imagery from the Baroque period and he specifically sites Bernini - the exaggerated depiction of texture, flesh and folds in robes and cloth as key source of inspiration.

"I see the fold of things through the dust they stir up, and whose folds I cast aside. I do not see into God, but I do see into the folds." Deleuze – The Fold

The excessive use of pleats in the artists work surround the viewer as if they are housed within this lavish world of colour and texture. They themselves are engulfed by these surfaces and become part of the folds that are beyond the canvas but are indeed hinted at. The sublime titles of the paintings point towards an otherworldly suggestion of infinity or the constant shift of perception and understanding of space, time and quantity. We have to ask what is it that we are looking for – an answer, solution, reason or cause? Surely the best option is to enjoy this visual feast laid before us, and submerge ourselves into the fold?

Since completing his BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University in 2005 James Roper has exhibited widely across the UK and has been featured in such publications as Belio Magazine and Dazed and Confused. Roper is currently art directing a short film he co-wrote that won funding from NorthWest Vision and Media as part of their Virgin Shorts 2008.
For further information and images please contact Suzanne at the gallery on +44 (0)20 7739 7572 or Suzanne@forstergallery.com