James Louks
Painting
e-mail: james.louks@umontana.edu
website: www.jameslouks.com
Bio
James was born in Wyoming and grew up in Spearfish, South Dakota. He earned his undergraduate degree from Black Hills State University where he studied Studio Art and Sociology. He is currently pursuing an MFA in Painting from The University of Montana.
Statement
I am fascinated by the concept of identity and feel that this is a subject that is increasingly important for contemporary artists to explore. The very notion of identity has dramatically changed in this age of social networking due to the omnipresent media saturation and instant gratification that is expected. Today we have the opportunity to create multiple identities for ourselves, altering and perfecting our digital personas to adapt to cultural or personal archetypes. I feel my work represents the consequences of this opportunity.
I am most interested in the process of how we construct these identities, why we choose to present them as ourselves, and when we feel that it is time to construct another. In order to explore these ideas, I find it useful to utilize celebrity imagery as well as familiar imagery from consumer culture, both contemporary and historical, which gives the work an askward, contradictory and often absurd immediacy that I find to be reflective of 21st century society.
