“All Spark”
40″ h x 30″ w, acrylic, spray paint, oil pigment stick, graffiti marker on canvas (2023)
For years, I struggled with what I want for a birthday present. It’s not that I’m some sort of minimalist, but I always had trouble thinking of what would be a “special” gift for myself. Getting into art collecting solved that problem, and when I saw this piece by Clarence James available for sale I quickly showed it to my wife (even though it’s a present for me, it’s going up on our wall after all). Fortunately, she if anything loved it even more than I did.
This is a painting that really pops at you (and even more so in person than online). The face is reminiscent of Easter Island moai — this one surely looks like it could be carved out of stone — and the orange background is incredibly powerful and striking. And while we loved it on its own merits, we also spotted right away how beautifully it would pair with Halim Flowers’ “Love is the Mitzvot”. Both use orange beautifully but distinctively — James as negative space framing the outside of the work, Flowers through bustling activity and energy in the middle of the painting. As Flowers and James are in fact real-life friends, it was especially lovely to be able to place two of their creations together in one room.
David Schraub 