Maverick, 2025
Acrylic paint, spray paint, oil pigment stick, on canvas
56 x 44 inches
Pioneer (Black Star), 2025
Acrylic paint, spray paint, oil pigment stick, on canvas
58 x 46 inches
Black Cowboy(s) “A New Frontier”, 2024
Acrylic paint, aerosol spray can, oil pastel pigment stick, silk screen ink, on canvas
60 x 36 inches
Press Release
The Exhibition
Clarence James’ paintings are not merely images, but energetic transmissions. James constructs visual terrains that pulse with movement and multiplicity that challenge linearity and status quo.
Layering spray paint, acrylics, oil pastels, graffiti mops into frenetic, mixed media, multi-perspective compositions, James paints in a raw, emotionally charged style that rejects formal constraints. His portraits—distorted yet human, spiritual yet grounded—evoke both the mask and the mirror, offering a glimpse into the human psyche shaped by society and survival.
James’ Black Cowboys series provides a form of visual storytelling that illustrates the rediscovery of forgotten history—restoring cultural identity through iconography and creating heroes from which we can all draw inspiration.
Artist Bio
Clarence James (b. Stamford, CT, 1991) is a Washington, DC-based contemporary artist whose practice reclaims cultural memory through a distinct visual language that fuses abstraction with figuration. Through his practice, Clarence James offers more than visual art—he offers a philosophy of freedom, a radical blueprint for cultural remembrance, and a spiritual call to see beyond surface appearances.
A self-taught artist and a 2014 graduate of Howard University, James has built his career over the past decade through street art interventions, group and solo exhibitions, public murals, and creative entrepreneurship. He has worked with galleries across the nation including DTR Modern Gallery, Chandler Art Gallery, Knowhere Gallery, and Bender Art Gallery, and has been featured in DC Modern Luxury, Dan’s Papers, Washington Informer and WiBridge as well as Distinct Magazine. @clarencejamesart / www.ClarenceJamesArt.com
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