About
James Lambert is a Boston-based artist. Recent projects have focused on exploring the pictorial with object oriented approaches to making. Additionally, Lambert is involved with several collaborative efforts including cofounding the papermill Artist Made Paper and the artist group JAWS.
Contact: jameslambertstudio@gmail.com
Instagram: @jameslambertstudio
@jaws_group
James Lambert is a Boston-based artist. Recent projects have focused on exploring the pictorial with object oriented approaches to making. Additionally, Lambert is involved with several collaborative efforts including cofounding the papermill Artist Made Paper and the artist group JAWS.
Contact: jameslambertstudio@gmail.com
Instagram: @jameslambertstudio
@jaws_group
Education
Massachusetts College of Art—MFA
Rhode Island School of Design—BFA
Exhibition Record
Massachusetts College of Art—MFA
Rhode Island School of Design—BFA
Exhibition Record
Statement
In 2015 I began a set of works called Stacked Paintings that set forth some concerns in my work that I am still working through. One of those was a question about the interrelationship between the image of a painting, and the body/object/structure that it rests on. Disturbing that link has led to some interesting investigations.
The Stacked Paintings are a set of roughly 200 panels—some painted, some bare— that can be stacked, layered, rotated and spaced out against a wooden beam. Gravity and the beam hold the improvisational “painting” together. Similar to how modern day cairns serve as temporary records or landmarks, I see these stacked paintings as situational constructions.
My recent projects have explored abstraction and visualization. The offset paintings take a simple motif, usually stripes, and slip the imagery out of its physical boundary, wrapping around the opposite side. A small copy of the original motif hovers, letting the viewer see both conditions simultaneously. The sprayed paint sometimes participates in the offset effect or imparts a perceptual, spatial aspect to the situation.
The January series involved producing a piece a day for the month of January, 2021. Each piece holds a different figuration that explores the geometry of the common form. Taken as a whole, the field of pieces mutate and mesmerize like an animation. Individually, the pieces invoke different pictorial concepts, sometimes feeling descriptive, diagrammatic or spatial.
In 2015 I began a set of works called Stacked Paintings that set forth some concerns in my work that I am still working through. One of those was a question about the interrelationship between the image of a painting, and the body/object/structure that it rests on. Disturbing that link has led to some interesting investigations.
The Stacked Paintings are a set of roughly 200 panels—some painted, some bare— that can be stacked, layered, rotated and spaced out against a wooden beam. Gravity and the beam hold the improvisational “painting” together. Similar to how modern day cairns serve as temporary records or landmarks, I see these stacked paintings as situational constructions.
My recent projects have explored abstraction and visualization. The offset paintings take a simple motif, usually stripes, and slip the imagery out of its physical boundary, wrapping around the opposite side. A small copy of the original motif hovers, letting the viewer see both conditions simultaneously. The sprayed paint sometimes participates in the offset effect or imparts a perceptual, spatial aspect to the situation.
The January series involved producing a piece a day for the month of January, 2021. Each piece holds a different figuration that explores the geometry of the common form. Taken as a whole, the field of pieces mutate and mesmerize like an animation. Individually, the pieces invoke different pictorial concepts, sometimes feeling descriptive, diagrammatic or spatial.
2022
2021
2020
2019
2016
2015
2021
2020
2019
2016
2015
MassArt Annual Auction
Nor’Easterly
Yeah, I’m Doing Alright
Winter Exhibition
Engaged, Resilient, Global
Next/Now: Faculty Exhibition
Boston Key Party: Drawing Swap and Exhibition— Presented by JAWS group
Looking at Power and Privilege: A BHCC Visual Media Arts Faculty Show
A Salon at Sugar Mountain
New American Paintings (NE), Issue 122
curated by Sarah Montross
MFA National Juried Exhibition, curated by David Ross
South of no North, East of no West, curated by Brian Edmonds
Chill, Zen, Funk and Twang, curated by David T. Miller
Boston Young Contemporaries, curated by Lucy Kim, Michelle Samour and Matt Phillips
MassArt Annual Auction
MassArt Thesis Show
National Wet Paint
Nor’Easterly
Yeah, I’m Doing Alright
Winter Exhibition
Engaged, Resilient, Global
Next/Now: Faculty Exhibition
Boston Key Party: Drawing Swap and Exhibition— Presented by JAWS group
Looking at Power and Privilege: A BHCC Visual Media Arts Faculty Show
A Salon at Sugar Mountain
New American Paintings (NE), Issue 122
curated by Sarah Montross
MFA National Juried Exhibition, curated by David Ross
South of no North, East of no West, curated by Brian Edmonds
Chill, Zen, Funk and Twang, curated by David T. Miller
Boston Young Contemporaries, curated by Lucy Kim, Michelle Samour and Matt Phillips
MassArt Annual Auction
MassArt Thesis Show
National Wet Paint
MAAM Museum, Boston MA
Katzman Contemporary, Dover NH
MassArt X SOWA, Boston MA
Stove Factory Gallery, Charlestown MA
Mary L Fifield Gallery, Charlestown MA
Carol Schlosbert Gallery, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly MA
The Stove Factory Gallery, Boston MA
Pao Arts Center, Boston MA
The Magenta Suite, Exeter NH
First Street Gallery, New York NY
Historic Lowe Mill, Huntsville AL
Curating Contemporary
808 Gallery at Boston University, Boston MA
Bakalar and Paine Galleries, Boston MA
Bakalar and Paine Galleries, Boston MA
Zhou B Arts Center, Chicago IL
Katzman Contemporary, Dover NH
MassArt X SOWA, Boston MA
Stove Factory Gallery, Charlestown MA
Mary L Fifield Gallery, Charlestown MA
Carol Schlosbert Gallery, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly MA
The Stove Factory Gallery, Boston MA
Pao Arts Center, Boston MA
The Magenta Suite, Exeter NH
First Street Gallery, New York NY
Historic Lowe Mill, Huntsville AL
Curating Contemporary
808 Gallery at Boston University, Boston MA
Bakalar and Paine Galleries, Boston MA
Bakalar and Paine Galleries, Boston MA
Zhou B Arts Center, Chicago IL
2023
2020
2015
2013
Awards and Honors
Beker Family Grant—2014
Dean’s Scholarship—2015
Publication
Canvas Rebel Magazine, “Meet James Lambert”
Eraser, Curating Contemporary (upcoming)
New American Paintings, No 122, Northeast Issue
Cate McQuaid, “New Talent,” The Boston Globe, online
Jenessa Kenway, “Two Exhibitions Demonstrate the Transition from Representation to the Abstract,” Las Vegas: City Life, online
Dawn-Michelle Baude, “CAC’s Latest Project Space Explores a Zone All Its Own,” Las Vegas Weekly, online
Tim Ortiz, Andreana Donahue, “in-Between,” Critical Correspondence, criticalcorrespondence.com
Massachusetts College of Art
Teaching experience includes a wide array of courses and disciplines at colleges in the Boston area.
- Independent Drawing Project (in RISD drawing concentration)
- Figure Drawing
- Narrative and Metaphor
- Two Dimensional Design
-
Three Dimensional Design
-
Composition and Color
-
Color Theory
-
Basic Drawing
-
Observational Drawing
- Observation 2: Mediated Observation
-
Visual Thinking
-
Comic Book Art
-
Issues and Images
- Digital Imaging for Artists
- Introduction to Painting
Teaching Experience
Ball State University
(Assistant Professor of Art, Drawing)
Rhode Island School of Design
(Critic)
Massachusetts College of Art
Bunker Hill Community College
Mount Ida— School of Design
Montserrat College of Art
Endicott— Van Sloan School
Ball State University
(Assistant Professor of Art, Drawing)
Rhode Island School of Design
(Critic)
Massachusetts College of Art
Bunker Hill Community College
Mount Ida— School of Design
Montserrat College of Art
Endicott— Van Sloan School
2024—present
2022—2024
2014—present
2015—present
2016—2018
2020—present
2020