LandscapeImage
Architecture
Architecture
New Orleans is a city of celebration. It’s a city of sensuality. It’s a city of liberty and movement and I allow all that to fold into my work. My art work has been greatly influenced by the city. My primary subject matter has been the city of New Orleans. The architecture of New Orleans remains one of my favorite subjects.
-James Michalopoulos
Landscapes
Landscapes
When I'm right in the middle of the tangle of woods there's a terrible
complexity, a marvelous complexity that I love to tease a picture out
of. It's not an easy go, It's an interesting thing–wIth me it's the way
to get to the heart of the natural world. It's a way to really look at
that almost molecular unfolding in the forest. You feel, if you can get
it right, the profundity of nature–the incredible richness and variety.
It's an amazing thing to be just in the middle of the perfusion of
growth and then to be charged with teasing a painting out of it? And
then to maintain the essence of it in that painting? I find it to be the
biggest challenge I have in that regard. The challenge is to tease a
painting from the chaos. Nature on its own is a chaotic unfolding. In
the midst of a forest I try to discern a pattern, or an element. To
illuminate–in fact eliminate. The issue is to tease. It's what you leave
out rather than what you put in.
Louisiana–and New Orleans in particular, are burdened by their abundant
gifts. Rich soil, endless sunshine, and quotidian showers–a foliage that
enrobes, engulfs. We are everywhere fertile and effusive. Whoa be thou
that foresaketh the forest for the trees. Forget not the sky and its
clouds–the table and plates of your dinner. The sky holds the earth.
This pungent pea-shaped earth floats in the blue wonderment protected
and graced by a phalanx of cloud shapes, each dispatched to serve,
protect or husband.
Occasionally I am recalled from my relentless nervous attention to
worldly affairs. I am called to the clouds. There, I happily place my
head. But, like every hot air balloon, sooner or later I return to
earth.
-James Michalopoulos
Animals
Animals
A literal representation would never touch the magnificence of nature. I
find that challenge all the time. To get to what nature elicits in me
as a response, and try to portray it. Ironically, it’s not a matter of
fidelity in the portrayal, but something else. Something that is
revealed beyond that. It is a process and I experiment all the time. I
would like to avoid, if it’s at all possible, developing a technique or
method of presenting nature. A style that is an uncomfortable process.
I’m looking for a way of being with nature that allows me to enjoy the
process and express its magnificence at the same time.
-James Michalopoulos
Flowers
Flowers
There is nothing around me that is off bounds. I found myself yesterday
reflecting on some leaves and grass on the crack of the sidewalk, and
just how unbelievably beautiful they were, set against the sidewalk, and
those blades of glass willfully making their way there, and my
admiration for the tenacity of nature.
I have some appreciation for a complex French garden, but it's not
really the focus of my interest. I'm much more drawn to a stream that
winds its way through a cow pasture. Or a gaggle of trees at the end of
the field. But what I'm most interested in is when there's evidence of
human interaction with nature–like a passage through the woods. Or the
edge of a farm field, or the garden and the fence along the wall. It's
the cohabitation, the contrast that interests me. When you contrast one
thing with another you are better able to illuminate it.
-James Michalopoulos
Vehicles
Vehicles
Cars are an unrestrained expression of American wealth, and an
unrestrained expression of psychological willfulness…they represent our
culture of great wealth, aspiration, and a time of us coming to terms
with dealing with psychological immaturities. The notion that a
possession of ours could represent us, could establish us, could make a
permanent notion that we have of ourselves.
-James Michalopoulos
Figures
Figures
Portraiture has evolved for me over the years. Figurative work was once
contractual for me. My obligation was to create a reasonable likeness.
Physical representation mattered most. The challenge was
straightforward. The mystery of the inner life is now a critical part of
the challenge. We matter. Humanity matters. The illumination of one
soul is the reveal of all humanity. This is the call of the wild, the
call of the essential.
-James Michalopoulos
Cemeteries
Cemeteries
Nowhere are cemeteries more fascinating than in New Orleans. Small
cities of the departed. Elegant architectural forms erected to solemnize
and honor the deceased. Collectively the tombs become a Cementius
Second Line. From the Dead they unselfconsciously "Rock the Box.”
- James Michalopoulos
Abstracts, Cocktails, & Still Lifes
Abstracts, Cocktails & Still Lifes
Most of my still lives derive from my terrasse–living in or living out.
Wine and food, a set table and OMG don't forget the bread. Chairs and
the curated space. A celebration of domesticity and relationship.
- James Michalopoulos
Jazz Fest
Jazz Fest
The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival honored Michalopoulos as Official Artist six times (more than any other artist in the festival’s history), and featured his artwork on the highly-collected Festival poster.
Serigraphs & Prints on Paper
Mixed Media Works
Posters, Books, & More
