James Nares

James Nares is best known for his process-oriented paintings in which a large, isolated brushstroke appears to float across a blank monochrome surface. To achieve this sense of weightlessness, Nares invented a special apparatus that enables him hang above the picture and paint from directly overhead, avoiding any drips or other “sign of gravity” which might result from painting onto an upright canvas. Nares likens his artistic routine to hitting a home run in baseball, sometimes achievable in one go but more often requiring multiple attempts to accomplish. Though his emphatic brushwork resembles that of certain Abstract Expressionists, he sees his practice more as one of cycle and repetition as opposed to the relatively unconstrained mark making of the so-called “action painters.”