James Collins

Employing process as content, Detroit-based artist James Collins produces graphic line paintings that resemble warped photocopies and moiré patterns. His multidimensional line-heavy works are created using a chance-based, custom process in which oil paint and water-based acrylic interact in a fluid state and repel each other. Relying on a precise chemical balance, Collins allows his materials to dictate their own outcomes. Though this technique, he is able to create entire paintings in one sitting. His goal, he has said, is not to create new imagery but to breathe new life into painting by giving art-making materials command over the resulting artwork. Collins’s earlier works involved layers of white and silver house paint wrapped in plastic wrap to add texture and allowed to flake and peel over time.