James Flowers is a visual artist with a neoclassic style with a hint of Afrofuturism. Each piece of his art tells a story as he uses oil to paint portraits of African Americans on steel–a unique and futuristic medium. The steel sheets are mounted against and slightly elevated above a black frame. “A frame is something that’s meant to define you and restrain you or confine you, and I lift my pieces above the frame to show that we can rise above those things that attempt to confine us,” James explains.
James developed this style after spending time experimenting with mediums. Along the way, he discovered steel sheets, but it was the history behind the steel that added to his style of telling stories with his art. “Since the Industrial Revolution, steel has built this country. It’s in our roads, our bridges, our buildings, and our cars. It’s everywhere. You can consider it the backbone of this nation,” James explains.
“I liken that to my subjects. My subjects are African-American men and women, and since that same time period, we were instrumental in building this country. I consider us, historically, to be the backbone of this nation. Also, steel is created. It’s not a metal that’s found in one place. You combine more than one metal together, apply heat to them, and then you come up with this very strong material. That’s what happened with African Americans. We came from all over the diaspora to this place, amalgamated together, were under extreme heat, extreme pressure, but under all of that, we combined to create something powerful.”
Oftentimes, James goes directly to a steel maker to get the steel he needs cut for the exact size for his portrait. He prefers hot-rolled steel because of the warped effect it creates. “I also use different type of effects. I’ll leave them outside so that they can get rained on, covered with the elements. I’ll pick them up, and they’ll have different patterns on them,” he says. “They’ll have patina, rust on them, and that, to me, is a sign of imperfections. But it’s also beauty, and it’s just like us, just like my subjects. All of our imperfections combine to make us who we are, and there’s always some beauty in our imperfections.”
James’ art focuses mostly on portraiture. He sees a subject in every character he paints, and that’s something he loves to seek out and find. He adds: “I’m just so captivated by the beauty of people, especially, our people, my subjects. I love skin. I love the way the light reflects off of skin. I love the angles of the face. The human visage and facial features are just amazing to me, and I love discovering new characters.”
James relates that portraiture has its challenges at times, such as when you can’t quite capture the true character of a subject. “Portraiture can be very scientific. There’s angles. There’s shapes. There’s light. There’s shading. Everything about the science of a portrait can create a replica of a person,” he explains. “However, if you don’t know that person, and if you haven’t experienced that person in face-to-face or in person for a long enough time, it can be difficult to capture the characteristics of a person.”
Because of this, James says he prefers to actually meet the person himself, and take the photographs of his subject himself. “This gives me a chance to browse through a gallery of hundreds of pictures of that person posing, close up shots of that person, and sometimes a video of that person interacting, because it gives me that character.”
James is inspired by the beauty of the character he has the opportunity to reflect with his art “I want people to be able to see that, but also, I want people to be able to see themselves and their experiences in my portraits. I want people to see themselves and their experiences through what I’m trying to show them.,” he says. “That’s one of the benefits of using metal. Sometimes, that metal is a reflective surface, and so we can see ourselves in what it is that I created.”
James concludes, “One of my favorite things to do is to go on a safari. My kids go, and every time we go, we look at these amazing animals. To experience a person should be the same way and the same amazement, and sometimes, I feel like, as artists, especially portrait artists, we do that. We bring that to people.”
To see more of James art, follow him on Instagram (@jflowart). Some of his artwork is also available for purchase at vikavisualarts.org/jamesflowers.
