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JAMES SPITZNAGEL
Rhythm is vital to James Spitznagel’s creative process.
“It all begins with rhythm and grows from the there,”
explains James. “The rhythm and shape of sound, line, light
or color is all the same to me.” His inspiration lies in exploring
the common ground between the subjective experiences of
creating and appreciating the universality of artistic forms.
As both a musician and visual artist, he focuses on the
necessary tension between silence and sound, as well as
the empty and filled spaces of his canvas. His provocative
and cutting-edge images suggest the visual representation
of a data stream or programming code transformed to
produce these provocative yet engaging images. They
explore the relationships among a variety of vital issues
such as questions of contemporary subjectivity and reality,
variations in color within the vertical and horizontal aspects
of the image, and the relevance of light and shadow to mood
in a digitally abstracted image. Some have been subjected
to more abstraction than others. Some are subjective
fantasy cityscapes, while others look stripped down to
primal shapes, and are thus more sensitive to dramatic
shifts in color and light.
For all the power of their abstraction, however, the inspiration
for James’s images comes from a very personal place. The
pixels, squares and geometric arrays of James’s work reveal
the subjective depth of the images as well as the depth
of feeling that inspired them. As a musician, he is always
seeking the artistic form which will resonate for him as a
creator and for the listener. His visual works reveal a wide
variety of moods, from calmly contemplative to the frenetic
energy of a particularly urban landscape. For James, all of
perceived reality is a process, and these are images that
afford us the opportunity to explore that process. James
Spitznagel’s visually stunning images tap into the process
of seeing as an act of creating and he invites us to question
and examine how we make sense of what we see in a world
of infinitely malleable images.
Website: www.levelgreen.com/art
www.Art-Mine.com/ArtistPage/James_Spitznagel.aspx
James in his Studio
The City #13 Inkjet Print on Fine Art Paper 20” x 15”
62 ArtisSpectrum
The City #14 Inkjet Print on Fine Art Paper 20” x 15”