I first saw James Gouldthorpe’s work at the Fourth Wall Gallery in Oakland, where he was showing “Worrisome: Short Stories.” His wide-ranging influences (comics, movies, novels, music, and occasionally painters) result in works that are rich with narrative… it’s just that the stories are obscured.
I appreciate that he spends so much time focused on the experience of the work as opposed to the Creation of it. Paying attention to one’s audience is an idea arguably rooted in pop culture, often rejected by Fine Artists and their cohorts as crass. Some might even feel that it’s the key to differentiating between the two magisteria: pop culture is produced for an audience, fine art is an expression of purity and vision by it’s creator. Some might argue that the real difference is the type of audience focused on, and a cynic might even suggest that at this point in western culture fine art is defined by it’s appeal a very narrow, monied audience who want to feel that art speaks to them alone because they are uniquely attuned to the artist’s soul and it’s only a coincidence that are also able to shell out for it.
I don’t care about that argument myself, but I sure do like James’ paintings.