Self-taught artist Roi James was initially inspired by the works of great masters like Titian, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, among others and with the romantic landscapes of Claude Lorrain, J.M.W. Turner, and Caspar David Friedrich. It was the majestic beauty and drama in these artist’s paintings and the long tradition of disciplined study and technique that attracted and inspired him. And so, his early paintings were infused with the dramatic play of light on human bodies and landscapes. He achieved a degree of success with this early work which in 1998, allowed him to quit his full-time job as a graphic designer at Dell Computer and focus entirely on painting.

Though he continued to work in the traditional style, he was already feeling a pull away from convention and a desire to explore painting’s greater possibilities. Where it had been a hunger for tradition and discipline that established his foundation, he was now compelled by a meditative thoughtfulness in being present and a desire to release himself into the uncertain world of abstract and conceptual painting. 

His new paintings are spontaneous and abandoned Meditations, appearing as quiet spaces or joyful dances on the canvas. His Constructs are architectural explorations of color and surface simultaneously, both painting and sculptural relief. Fundamentally, despite their dissimilar surfaces and the contrast to his earlier romantic period, this new work remains true to his commitment to beauty and form. His works can be found in private and public collections around the world.