James J. Kelewae, New Jersey
Member Since February 2007
Artist Statement James Jacquel Kelewae, was born in 1977 in Carlisle, PA, and raised in the Quad Cities and Chicago. Before attending college he spent some time in Germany and France. After graduating from School of Visual Arts in NYC, James moved to Brooklyn and began doing freelance work in Sound Production for a handful of independent films. Being a musician and beat enthusiast has taken part in greatly influencing the pictorial rhythm in his paintings. In 2001, James moved back to Chicago and participated in a number of group and solo shows, painted murals on Chicago’s west, south and north sides and in Gary, ID. After his wife Jolene gave birth to their son Ian in 2003, they moved back East to New Jersey where he currently resides 30 minutes from the capitol. James has kept himself busy by participating in group and solo exhibitions in New Jersey, NYC, Texas, MA, PA and Ohio. He also sells, and promotes his art online.
This series is about Abstract Urban Expressionism. It is a response to modern street art movements and an echo of mid-20th century expressionists like Gorky, Twombly, Appel, Miro, Klee, and Ridon. Stencils, moniker-style oil sticks, glued up collages and varied painterly textures reflect a world that is chaotic, divided, and oversaturated in stimulation yet exhuberant and playfull. Like the Expressionists of old, my generation lives in a world complicated by modernization, world-wide ideological battles, atomicloomingdoom, drastic divisions that are serious illusions, and unjust circumstances creating social unrest. My art is a platform for reflection on the balance between all that external static and my own inner peace and centeredness. Dead serious, yet whimsicle and joyfully free.
Education
School of Visual Arts BFA 2000
Exhibitions
2007 Lounge Zen - Teaneck, NJ - "Recent Works" solo show
2006 Stratasphere – Philidelphia, PA - “In the Neighborhood” Group show
2006 Gallery 125 – Trenton, NJ - “2 Year Anniversary” group show
2006 Art in the Park – New Brunswick, NJ
2006 Micro Museum – Brooklyn, NY 2006 - “Open Walls” solo show
2005/06 Artocracy.org - Digital Art for the masses!
2005/06 Hillsborough Starbucks – Hillsborough, NJ - 2 solo shows
2005 Fort Worth Community Arts Center – Fort Worth, TX Works on Paper Group Show
2005 Gallery 125 – Trenton, NJ - “My America” group show
2005 J. David Broudo Gallery of Art – Beverly, MA - “Fin te shurt art” group show
2005 Gallery 125 – Trenton, NJ - “Eye of the Storm” group show
2005 Parsippany, NJ - “Partners for Partners” Montclair Art Museum Benefit Auction
2005 Chelsea Art Museum – New York, NY - “Avant Grande” group show
2005 North Water Gallery – Canal Fulton, OH -“Unlimited Vision” group show
2003 North Center Starbucks – Chicago, IL -2 solo shows
2002/03 Art Gallery Kafe – Chicago, IL - 4 group showings.
-Furniture part of permanent collection.
2002 Around the Coyote, Flat Iron Building – Chicago, IL
2001 Exodus, Kustom – Chicago, IL
2000 Zido’s – New York, NY
1997 School of Visual Arts Student Show - New York, NY
Murals
2002 Ullyses’s Car Wash – Chicago, IL
2002 Hope World Wide, 131st St. Chicago Public Library, Altgeld Gardens - Chicago, IL
2001 Metro Pet Care – Chicago, IL
Bibliography
2006 Orange Alert CD cover
2006 Reflections Artists Journal
2005 The Aurora Review
2005 Reflections Artists Journal 2005
2005 Tell Me About NLD 2005
2001 URB Magazine Globalbeats.com ad 2001
2001 CMJ Artist Services logo 2001
2000 School of Visual Arts Illustrators Annual 2000
2000 Scholastic Literacy Place Author Workshop 2000
Commercial Collections
Pine Restaurant – Salt Lake City, UT
Art Gallery Kafe – Chicago, IL
Awards and Recognitions
2006 Finalist – Seasonal Landscapes Art.com
2004 Finalist – Starbucks Global Leadership Conference Coffee Stamp
Click to save as artist's preferred kit 
