Meadowlark is the renowned artist James Jean’s first solo exhibition in Canada, running from July 25 to September 15, 2024. This exhibition explores cultural identity, belonging, and the intricate dynamics between heritage and personal experience. Fusing history, tradition, literature, nature, and personal experience, Jean’s dream-like and at times disorienting visual vocabulary draws upon art historical antecedents ranging from Baroque paintings to Japanese woodblock prints and Chinese silk scroll paintings. Featuring paintings, drawings, sculptures, and animation, this exhibition narrates a journey of loss, recognition, and the redemptive power of cultural reclamation.
In this exhibition, Jean creatively utilizes visual motifs that weave together mythological and folkloric narratives from both Western and Asian contexts, fostering a fusion that resonates with a diverse audience. His unique combination of characters, animals, and intricate patterns forms a tableau of cultural ambiguity, reflecting the complex identities forged by migration and globalization. He addresses the linguistic and semantic tensions within his heritage by depicting Chinese radicals in an unformed and abstract state—a deliberate choice that highlights the simultaneous familiarity and estrangement, poignantly reflecting on the challenges of language and meaning, and the pursuit of an authentic personal history.
Meadowlark is a type of bird celebrated for its melodious song and ability to mimic the calls of other birds, documented across various cultural histories. This adaptability helps the meadowlark blend into its environment and potentially deter predators or rivals. Their song is not just a survival tactic; it is a profound expression of integration and harmony, resonating across various cultural histories.
We invite you to CICA Vancouver to experience Meadowlark, where James Jean’s canvases transcend traditional visual boundaries, offering a rich tapestry of cultural exploration and identity.
Sad to be missing the show because you are not in Vancouver? Thanks to Vortic Meadowlark is now available for online and AR view! Click here to see the show.
About James Jean
James Jean was born in Taiwan in 1979 and attended the School of Visual Arts in New York, graduating with a BFA in 2001. He is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose works explore imagination and reality through narrative-driven, layered compositions. His expressionistic, painterly approach to mark-making blends figuration with abstraction in works that are at once technically precise and gestural. He works primarily in painting and drawing, while also embracing other media including sculpture, installation, and video. Jean has focused his multifaceted studio practice on fusing contemporary subjects with aesthetic techniques from such diverse sources as traditional Chinese scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, Renaissance portraiture, West African Masquerade, comic books, and psychedelia. By experimenting with different styles and art-historical genres, Jean depicts detailed cosmological worlds that focus on both individual and universal experiences. Layered with imagery drawn from contemporary culture and age-old allegories, he imagines a collective realm of mythological proportions. Recent collaborations of note include work with Prada, Yohji Yamamoto, Guillermo Del Toro, and Darren Aronofsky.
Jean’s works form part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art (New York, United States), Asian Art Museum (San Francisco, United States), Lotte Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea), and Colección SOLO (Madrid Spain).
Read More
After making his mark in comics, visual artist James Jean finds fans in filmmakers, Korean boy bands and fine art collectors – Vancouver Sun
Meadowlark Interview with Artist James Jean – Booooooom
Exhibition Reviews
A Search for Belonging: James Jean’s Meadowlark Exhibition at CICA – by Sharon Engbrecht
Impossible Realms – Review of Meadowlark – by Natasha Gauthier
For media inquiries, please contact Dyana Kim at dyana@cicavancouver.com
Events
Please note that due to capacity limit, RSVP is required for each event. Selected events are free for CICA Circle Members to attend. Get your membership now!
3D Plasticine Character Making Workshop by Weskin (Will Hannan) | August 18, 2:30 – 5 pm | RSVP for the Plasticine Workshop
We are grateful for the support and sponsorship of:
Media Sponsors:
