James Saldivar at Jumpstart Theater

James Saldivar is one of the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity's Art Faculty

Artistic Balancing Act

Balanced, New Works by James Saldivar

Author:

Gabriel Diego Delgado

San Antonio, TX.- James Saldivar’s new exhibition, Balanced, at Jump-Start Theater at the Blue Star Contemporary Art complex, becomes less like a title and more like a way of life.  Balanced opens June 2, 2011 from 6 – 9 pm.  Straddling two studios and preparations for several upcoming exhibitions, James is caught somewhere in between furious shaman and eclectic traveler.  Having spatially outgrown his Second Sights Studio on West Gramercy Street, James has relocated to the soon to be summer-vacated art department of the San Antonio School for Inquiry and Creativity; where James is on the Art Faculty.  “With summer fast approaching, I will be teaching a summer course, but for the most part I will only see those students who are dedicated artists over the summer… so why not take advantage of the larger space and let the students see how I work.”  For James, his preparation for Balanced has been a transitional phase.  Moving his studio into a new space requires many car trips, loads of pneumatic tools, raw canvas, wood, paint and miscellaneous art necessities.  Balancing what is left at the old studio and what is relocated to the new temporary space is an artistic equilibrium act; knowing everything is transitory- James has to think short-term.  What can he achieve in a larger space that he cannot in his smaller studio, while staying focused on the Balanced exhibition and a late summer exhibition in Houston?  Having sat down with James in his new school occupancy, he shows me one of his new works for the exhibition.  It’s an all-black and white painting, layers of white drips over black ground and black drips over a white ground.  Vertically, the art resembles a midnight reflection in a quaint and quasi-familiar pond, with a vibrant shimmering moonlight- the water ripples distorting the ideal visual replication. As we converse about the orientation, the various push and pull of the black on white and vice versa, James alludes to a new term he is pleased to attribute to his painting series.  “Enigmatic”, he says. “..You know like perplexing, mysterious, and puzzling situation”- catching me off guard as he reads off the dictionary definition from his smartphone lounging on the studio couch.

Staying true to form in his signature painting style, James likes to verbally dissect his paintings into easily digestible layers of art.  Consisting of layers upon layers of paint, some deliberately dripped, others skillfully blended- James has a set reason to perform the artistic dance he chooses to move to.   James states, “the under-painting is made up of the very thought-out, blended, and strategically placed lines representing our [human] primordial desire for want and need for control, while the top layer is the chaos- drips representing the wonderful ‘happenings’ in each and every one of our lives, the beautifulness that make it a blessing to wake up every day; the things that just happen which make each day different… Things are going to be the way they are regardless of what we want, or try to make happen.”

Pressing for a universal and cosmic conversation, James knows that gravity, the way the earth rotates, the cosmic relations that shape our daily experiences-good or bad help shape his paintings. He does not manipulate the drips as they happen; only pausing to occasionally turn the canvas upside down and run the drips the opposite way.  Reminiscent of some kind of organic sprouts growing up to a post-apocalyptic skyline, the upward drips are no longer “drips” in the sense we attribute a spilled liquid, but when countered on the artistic axis, the “drips” take on a new quality; of subject or compositional element, no longer a matter of fact physical attribution.  Other highlights from Balanced include “Bumble”, a Yellow, Grey and Black and White stripped painting; with the title referencing the oh so familiar Bee (Andrena (Hesperandrena) limnanthis) and its abdomen color- with the distinctive color palette of waistline strips.  Another key artwork in the exhibition is “Attraction”, a painting four times long as it is high.  With over 26 distinct color blends in the background and over 30 pronounced color drips- “Attraction” segments itself out into a systematic viewing of visual arraignments, each section giving a full lesson in color theory, with reds popping off of greens and greens off purples-“Attraction” alluding to the universal notion of opposites attract.  Knowing how colors will react next to each other, James has an acute eye for color and plays his hand right every time;  “Attraction” is a visual sentiment to his understanding of vibrant edges and the optical illusion we all experience when colors illuminate the world around us.

Balanced, new works by James Saldivar opens June 2, 2011 from 6 – 9 pm at the Jump Start Theater lobby, Blue Star Arts Complex.