"The work of James Wyper is work about openings. In experiencing his paintings we are brought over the limen, through doorways of luminescence and vibration. I say “experiencing” rather than “viewing” when speaking of James’ work because it contains potent viscerality. His paintings embody the opening of our own bodies, the dance and play and song of physical vitality, our own vibrations, our breath, our heartbeat, the hum of our nervous systems. The abstract nature of James’ work is a metaphysical abstraction rather than an intellectual one. How does one paint vibration? How does one image physical/spiritual opening? James has met these challenges with paint, vibrating us until we have no choice but to open ourselves and step through the doorway to inside our bodies, experiencing our physical liminality, our visceral thresholds."
"Painters are the vessels through which their paintings are distilled. The aware painter puts their person in communion with (their) higher consciousness, perceives the painting, and expresses it. The painting then exists as the physical artifact of the artist's act of communion."
- James Wyper
Canadian artist James Wyper was born in British Columbia in 1971, and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, home of modernist painter William Perehudoff, whose work was particularly inspiring, and the excellent Mendel Art Gallery, which was an influential childhood sanctuary.
His bright, geometric paintings explore the idea that state-of-being (consciousness) is causal. They illustrate states of meditation, ecstasy, spontaneous spiritual realization, and transcendence. James' liminal paintings are active devices which emanate the energy of the intention of their making, and reflect to viewers their own state(s) of consciousness.
James lives in Invermere BC, with the author Marlo Johnson, and their rescue dog Ana. His work is collected and available internationally, and he welcomes painting and mural commissions. For more information, or to arrange a studio visit, please contact the artist.