JAMES ARAX BIOGRAPHY
" MY OPENFLOW STYLE IS LIQUID, FAST, BRISK AND ALIVE" James Arax
James Arax 2022
After a short artist’s statement & bio introduction, you will find:
🎨 PRESENCE PAINTING
💦 OPENFLOW STYLE
🌀 NFTs COLLECTION
📓 JAMES & PAPER
📸 JAMES & PHOTO
✍🏻 ART CRITICS
🖼 EXHIBITIONS
🎓 EDUCATION
James Arax is a painter, since he is 5 years old, thanks to his grand father in Cannes who offered him a box of paint with tubes of oil paint. James used to follow him in the footsteps of Picasso & Cézanne. From these first years spent on the Côte d'Azur in South of France: Antibes, Juan les Pins, Cannes and Nice, he will keep the footprint of the sea. James looked a lot at the sea, its vast and ever-changing surface.
James Arax in front of the sea, at Fuerteventura, Canary Islands.
Very soon he was attracted by architecture, paintings and poesy. His envy of painting became an obsession and finally a profession. In 2001, after his studies and his profession as an architect DPLG, he decides to paint full time, exhibits and sells his artworks.
James Arax Studio - Paris - Bibliothèque de France
In 2022, he decides to share his artistic life style and sells directly his exclusive and unique artworks via this website to get in touch closely to Art lovers.
Les Bois d’Arax, Open air Studio + « Indian from Cuenca » on his Dodge WC 1944
He likes to show his vision of his art, to stage his paintings, unveil his amazing studios, present his muses. He uses videos, photos, social media, AR-VR with his team, to make paintings come alive.
James just after painting in Les Bois d’Arax, with his faithful Defender
You will encounter the paintings selected by James Arax himself in the following sections called « Flowing themes »: Flowing Painting - Flowing Muse - Flowing Magic - Flowing Cloud - Flowing Forest. ➡️ Click on the link to access Flowing themes collections
PRESENCE PAINTING
“With Presence painting I revisit the art of the portrait. It is my masterpiece. It is an artistic performance centered on the realization of the portrait of a person-model with a disruptive spatial device.
James Arax and his model after the Presence painting session N°55
I produce an assembly of works carried out on different supports to capture the presence of the model: painting, drawings, photos and video. The central piece is a painting of 170x200cm made with the model during a painting session that never exceeds one day. »
Living with a large canvas « Presence painting » is a unique artistic experience!
ORDER YOUR OWN PRESENCE PAINTING! We will program a session with James online.
➡️ for more information, send us a message on the contact form
Presence painting Wine realised with the owner of the Château Haut Bergey, wine Castel in Pessac Leognan near Bordeaux
PRESENCE PAINTING LIVE SHOW at CENTRE POMPIDOU-PARIS!
James Arax made his first "Presence Painting Performance" with the public at the Georges Pompidou Contemporary Art center in Paris in 2006.
The first Presence painting performance live with the public at the Georges Pompidou Art center in Paris - 2006.
James asked the public to film themselves via a screen and a remote control. The live drawings made by James on his sketchbook were projected on a giant screen. In this performance, James had already anticipated the advent of selfies and social networks with the rise of contemporary individualism.
OPENFLOW STYLE
James matured and perfected his own style which he calls OpenFlow. He develops his own style in the Presence painting performance, a new kind of portraiture.
Presence painting N°48 in the Cadogan line Studio in London
"OpenFlow is the name I give to my pictorial style. OpenFlow is built with two words Open and Flow which both refer to non-dualistic philosophies like Taoist and Buddhism.
Open reflects a spiritual state of openness to the world. In the practice of my painting, it is a particular mental attitude to welcome the events or creative ideas that come to my mind. This allows me to transcribe immediately the present.
James Arax concentrated on a detail on a large scale canvas
The Flow finds its expression in the large vertical runs that structure most of my paintings, especially in the performance Presence Painting. It also refers to that supreme state of experience of flow in rap or jazz and the zone of flow in high-level performance in sports."
James Arax's Signature
OpenFlow is both James's pictorial style but also the name given to his painting practice which is his life philosophy. This practice is associated with that of Taichi chuan that allows him to access this state or zone of Flow. Thanks to the Flow he can create with fluidity and improve his performances while painting. More specifically during the Presence painting performances in the presence of a person at the workshop.
More informations about OpenFlow on my BLOG >> My OpenFLow Style
As comfortable on canvas as on paper, on small or large scales, James explores all techniques and all mediums, looking for fluidity and freedom.
James Arax using a brush to facilitate the flow of ink and water
The "OpenFlow" is liquid and fast, a powerful and precise technique to capture the infinite variations of a body, a moving face...
NFTs COLLECTION
START EXPLORING JAMES's "OPENFLOW VR EXHIBITION" curated by SolSea Here
For James, the NFTS are more than an overlay on the current art system, it prefigures a decentralized art market like the Defi (Decentralized finance thanks to blockchain technology) for a democratization of the art market.
« I am also confident that a collector of my NFTs will become a collector of my physical works."
NFT ATlanTide #16 on objkt.com
James has been working since 2022 on several NFTs collections on SolSea, Foundation, Objkt, Rarible and OpenSea marketplaces.
JAMES & PAPER
" Painting on large format papers is fantastic, the paper has a liveliness that the canvas doesn't ". Painting on paper brings new freedom: there is always the idea of the ephemeral, of the instant, of the no finito.
James Arax in front of his artwork on paper XL, series Logos
To paint on paper is also to be able to roll the paper and often change studio. «Thanks to the paper I gained a form of artistic mobility and I was never a prisoner of a space...you can work in an apartment as well as in a studio».
In James Arax flat-Studio in Paris IV rue François Miron. His smart XL artworks hanging like on a clothesline.
JAMES & PHOTO
James uses photography and videos in his work. When he travels, he takes photos to allow him to record the highlights that he exploits later in his paintings like in the series Ecuador.
James Arax at Ingapirca-Cuenca during his artistic residency in Ecuador. The largest Inca ruins in Ecuador.
All the sessions of Presence painting are the subject of a set of photos and videos of the model during the performance session.
James Arax and his model after the Presence painting session N°57
James Arax in front of his Presence painting PP61 « THE DRAGON » with his faithful Canon EOS.
James has also done a photographic work with his muse Johanna for several years. Whether in Paris, London, in his studio or in the "Bois d'Arax".
Series « Muse into the Wild »
ART CRITICS
James Arax paintings are « like abstract cartographies in which you can enjoy infinite roadtrips » Yannick Miloux - artistic director of Artotheque & Frac Art founds.
James Arax’s muse Johanna
«Like the hero of François Truffaut in the film THE MAN WHO LOVED WOMEN, James Arax paints women, their accessories, with a lot of humor, knowing that he is not the first to be fascinated by them, playing with fashion, images». Adrien Goetz, art historian, critic, writer
Art Fair
« His work as a painter is informed by a real knowledge of urban history, precise constructive processes, materials, textures to which he knows how to impregnate climatic variations, the passage of the seasons.” Jean-Claude Garcias, architect, art critic, professor
James Arax with the former First Lady of France Mrs Chirac at his exhibition
EXHIBITIONS
He exhibits regularly his artworks in Paris at Galerie Akié Arichi and at the Secret Art Gallery, in New York at DFN gallery and in Austria at Basis Wien.
Latest exhibition in VR opening Sept 13, 2022 "OPENFLOW VR EXHIBITION" curated by SolSea Here
Opening at the Secret Art Gallery - Paris
Solo exhibition at the Secret Art Gallery, Paris Marais.
Solo or group exhibitions like the one with Gérard Garouste represented by Galerie Templon.
James Arax with the great French painter Gérard Garouste - Templon Gallery
He used to exhibits at Akie Arichi Gallery, especially his large scale paintings on paper. As a Japanese gallerist in Paris, she paid attention to James artworks and found French-Japanese collectors for him.
Large scale artwork on paper at Galerie Akié Arichi - Paris
In 2004-05, he creates live performances as «Presence painting live» at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, installation-event as «Tempête 99» at the Parc & Château de Sédières about the forest and the climate emergency.
Climate emergency solo exhibition by James Arax
In 2007, he opens the Secret Art Gallery, in Paris-le Marais, an alternative Art gallery with monthly appointments «Art and Wine».
Summer Party of the Secret Art Gallery in Saint Emilion vineyards, Château Haut Sarpe - Grand cru classé
He presents his artworks and other artists to his collectors in Paris and then in London, Frankfurt and Saint Emilion where the gallery’s Summer Party takes place. 
Solo Exhibition indoor-outdoor, in a Renaissance Castle in France - Château de Sédières
He installs ephemeral studios in the Châteaux of Bordeaux for his « Wine& Champagne season » series. At Chateau Haut Bergey in Pessac Léognan, at Chateau Haut Sarpe and Guadet (Grand Cru Classé) in St Emilion. He does a presence painting with the owner of the vineyard.
Ephemeral Studio in the vineyard Château Haut Bergey, Léognan - Bordeaux France.
In 2016, he invents an AR application to watch different his paintings for private visits in his studio or for his exhibitions. Recently, he creates holographic experience designs for Art and Luxury as an artistic director in the startup Hypview.
More informations in my blog.
EDUCATION
James ARAX is a painter, since he is 5 years old, thanks to his grand father in Antibes in the south of France who offered him a paint box with tubes of color oil paint. His grandfather put his easel in marvelous places on the Côtes d'Azur and Provence. James used to follow him in the footsteps of Picasso & Cézanne in Provence.
James Arax in his 1st flat-studio in Paris rue François Miron Paris IV in his early years.
Very soon he was attracted by architecture, paintings and poesy. His envy of painting became an obsession and finally a profession 15 years after graduating as an architecte. While he attends High School of Architecture, he painted a lot at the French Beaux Arts Academy.
Sketch by JAmes Arax made in the Louvre after The Dying Slave a sculpture by the Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo.
He was amazed by secession movement from Vienna and the Spanish painters: Tapiès, Millares, Chillida, the Greco. He chooses Toledo to implement his architecture project for his diploma in architecture.
James Arax drawing on his sketchbook
James has always painted on paper, from the XS sketchbook to the very large XL format. He finds on the surface of the paper a freedom, a nervousness, a flexibility of expression for his painting.
Exhibiting at Grand Palais Salon d’Automne besides Jean Cocteau in his early years
As young as 22 years old, he wins the award «Les étoiles de la peinture» under the patronage of Accor group and an exhibition in Espace Maeght Montrouge. At that time, one of his early paintings is exhibited and sold! right next to Jean Cocteau at the Salon d’Automne at the Grand Palais in Paris.
« Venus » sketched on site in Le Louvre + Portrait of a collector sketched on site on a paper tablecloth in Paris.
He studied classic architecture especially in France & Italy and he became an architect D.P.L.G.(1993) in France. He worked as an architect during 10 years in famous studios in Paris such as Jacques Ripault : Médiathèque de Meaux, MacVal - musée d'Art contemporain du Val-de-Marne.
Sketch of Toledo on site, preparing his diploma in architecture.
James appreciates particularly the architect Jacques Ripault with whom he worked. He transmitted to James his passion for post-modernist architecture. Jacques always encouraged James to continue in painting.
Working as an architect with Jacques Ripault Architecture Studio - Top - Espace culturel Luxembourg à Meaux /1994 - Bottom - Musée d’Art Contemporain MACVAL à Vitry Sur Seine /2005
Passionated by landscapes, he obtains a post-graduate DEA in Landscape & architecture (EHESS Paris - PSL1998) thesis «Virtual landscapes», direction of Alain Roger, philosopher, professor of aesthetics, student of the philosopher Gilles Deleuze and Augustin Berque, geographer, orientalist and philosopher.
James Arax in his Studio in Dordogne Valley - "Magic Mountain" inspired by Chinese classic paintings.
Besides studying the European philosophers, he studied Chinese literature and painters, as Shitao. In 2000, he begins the practice of Tai chi chuan with Anya Méot (Master Tung). Since, he practices regularly to deepen his physical relationship to his artwork. He has completed artistic residencies in Berlin, Vienna, London, Rio, NY and Guayaquil in Ecuador.
James Arax in Germany for his own exhibition, visiting one of his favorite classic painter Cranach.