Nat Creole: How did your artistic interests develop? Were you always equally interested in painting, sculpture and design or did one discipline flow naturally into the other?
Sydney James: My artistic interests have been developing since I was 3 years old, ever since I was able to draw Gargamel and Mickey Mouse without tracing. My disciplines naturally flow into each other. When people see any of my work (painting to sculpture), I want them to know that it's a Sydney G. James piece.
NC: A lot of your work is haunting; the colors create a kind of mood that unites the various subjects found in the work. Where does this emotion come from? And is this what guides your choice of subject, are they all personalities that you have some kind of emotional connection to?
SJ: I honestly think I'm an angry black woman in America. I pour all of my bad experiences, and good, into my work. I'm going through a dark period in my life. I'm not too long coming from the "golden handcuffs" of corporate America, and I'm finally discovering myself (my true self). It has been empowering. I know I don't have to make "pretty" pictures. I choose my subjects based on what I know of them and what I imagine they were going through or went through in their lives. I add their pain with mine and create visually emotional images.
NC: I’m always interested in what artists like to emphasize in their portrait work. There is an obvious emphasis on the eyes but what other points of emphasis do you use to communicate the type of feeling that your work conveys?
SJ: I find beauty in imperfections, which is how I choose my subjects. I prefer people with exaggerated features (large noses, big lips, long necks, etc.) so I can really emphasize their beautiful flaws.
NC: How did you come into doing the illustration work for Lincoln Heights? Given the highly emotional tone of your paintings does your work for ABC change your approach to creating?
SJ: The Lincoln Heights job was a true blessing that actually came through one of the writer's on the show, Yolanda Starks, a friend of my mentor, Lyndon Barrois. She mentioned to him that the show was looking for an artist to represent "Cassie." He told me about it, I ran to the opportunity and never looked back.
The approach to the ABC Family work is actually similar to my regular approach because I have to get into her character, which lucky for me is not a very happy person. The main thing that I have to pull back from is the exaggeration of features when I'm assigned to create portraits. However, I was still able to create some (pretty) dark images on certain episodes.
NC: I’ve read where you are interested in creating or defining a new artistic movement. Why do you feel this would be necessary and what do you think would be gained by this?
SJ: I think this is necessary because I personally know many artists who are worthy of going down in history. Picasso and Salvador Dali and many of the artists at the time hung out together challenging each other to be greater and greater. This generation has that potential and talent. I am not able to articulate what the movement will be just yet, but trust me. I'm working on it.
NC: This is a very fertile time for you, what are your plans and focus for the future?
SJ: I am going to continue my adventure, illustrating and painting for television and film. My master plan is to be the creator/producer of my own animated television series.
NC: Nice |
