James Coleman worked as a background artist for Disney before abandoning painting and moving into the realm of fine art. This history means that his works are a literal representation of histrionics- the mechanics and meaning of staged presence, theatrical projection and the dual perspectives of actor and audience alike. Born in Ireland in 1941, Coleman is recognised internationally as a video artist, photographer and film maker. Coleman's strategy recalibrates film through restructuring and playing off the assumed veracity of the documentary photograph. His works often take the guise of slide projections and sound installations which examine the relationship between image and subject, and their mutual 'causation' through time.
Read MoreColeman studied at the National College of Art and Design and University College, Dublin, as well as Ecole des Beaux Arts, Paris, and Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan. Coleman represented Ireland at the 1973 Paris Biennale and has participated in Documenta IX (1992), X (1997), XI (2002), and XII (2007). He received both the Kurt-Schwitters Prize, Hannover, Germany and the Kunstpreis München in 2002, and was awarded an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland, Galway, in 2006. Important solo exhibitions have been held at the Museo Reina Sofia (2012), the Irish Museum of Modern Art (2009), the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (1999), and the Centre George Pompidou, Paris (1996).
