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Forty-Six Combs
Screenprint in 33 colors, 2008
Saunders 410 gram hot press watercolor paper
Signed and numbered edition of 28
Image size: 62 x 48 1/4 inches
In the summer of 2007, James Siena established the formula or “algorithm” for his new work, Forty-Six Combs. During that time he drew the complex set of “moves” on a large sheet of mylar. This set of codes then came to life in the studio through many series of proofings. Throughout the process, James was concerned with the balance, weight, and relationships between each series of colors in the print. The final version of the print reflects both the artist’s aesthetic and the printer’s expertise in its distinct relationships of geometry, pattern, and color. This edition is a testament to James’ skill as a printmaker and his desire to push the envelope of creativity.
The work of James Siena has been collected by a number of prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum in New York and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
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BATTERY
VARIATIONS I, II, and III
Set of three screenprints in eight colors, 2005
Edition of 45
Signed and numbered in pencil on Rives BFK paper
Image size: 40 x 31 ¼ inches
Sheet size: 46 ½ x 37 ¼ inches
Born in California in 1957, New York-based artist James Siena received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornell University in 1979. Siena’s work has been exhibited widely and can be found in many private and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Modern Art, New York; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Siena’s work has also been featured in more than 55 group exhibitions, including the Whitney Museum of American Art Biennial (2004).
A recipient of numerous honors, Siena has been awarded the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting (1994), the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Biennial Competition Award (1999), and most recently, an award in Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York (2000).
Known for “all-over” works that employ an intricate sense of design, Siena’s works inevitably call to mind Pre-Columbian and tribal patterning, Islamic and African textile design, and Maori tattoos. Yet they are more than abstract systems of interesting forms; they are compositions that represent a totality of vision—a vision executed using precise mathematical geometry, cultural symbolism, and intuition.
“I don’t make marks,” Siena says, “I make moves.” Rhythmic, expressive, and structurally complex, BATTERY VARIATION I, II, and III are representative of Siena’s unique process and product.