JAMES JEAN

Early Years

James Jean was born in Taipei in 1979 and raised in New Jersey. He earned his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 2001, then became a cover artist for Marvel Comics and DC Comics—he won six Eisner awards for his cover art on Fables and The Umbrella Academy, among other titles. He also worked in advertising. In 2008, Jean retired from illustration to concentrate on painting.

James Jean: Artworks

James Jean’s surreal, dream-like works invite viewers to consider how they imagine identity, featuring characters who may be human, but may be something else. His fluid lines and nature-inspired subjects are beautifully rendered, but with a darker edge hinting at chaos below the surface. His artworks tell stories that seem unconstrained by traditional ideas of time, and influences ranging from Chinese and Japanese art heritage to Baroque painting can be detected in his pieces.

• Jean was inspired by Edgar Degas’ sculptures and paintings of ballet dancers for Maze (2008), first a painting and then a series of bronze, steel and marble sculptures of a girl holding a circular maze puzzle.
• The Descendent is seemingly forever falling, caught in between states and feelings. The figure was first seen in a 2019 painting, gently slipping through plants and clouds, but then became a series of sculptures.
• Ninomiya Sontuku was a Japanese agriculturalist and leader in the 18th and 19th centuries and inspired Woodcutter, which first appeared in etchings and paintings in 2007–2008 and became sculptures during the early 2020s.
• Created in 2015 and inspired by both the story of David and Goliath and the 1929 surrealist film Un Chien Andalou, the boy in Jean’s Slingshot painting (later sculptures) removes his eye, pops it in his slingshot and takes aim.
• Bath was painted in 2022—it features a girl bathing in a boy’s open head, representing connection, memory and symbiosis.
• 2024’s Meadowlark exhibition came out of a series of sketches Jean completed in summer 2023 while travelling through China and Japan. It took him a year to complete the paintings, which initially appear to combine elements of the East and the West, but a theme of being unable to communicate also runs through the works.
• In 2026, Jean created The Procession to celebrate the opening of the David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Embossed insects, flowers and characters in vibrant colours intertwine, revealing themselves as the viewer’s eye moves across the artwork.

James Jean: Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

• Sintila, Baik Art Gallery, Jakarta (2026)
• Meadowlark, Center of International Contemporary Art, Vancouver (2024)
• Eternal Spiral IV, Today Art Museum, Beijing, China (2024)
• Eternal Spiral III, Sea World Culture and Arts Center, Shenzhen (2023)
• Eternal Spiral II, A4 Art Museum, Chengdu (2023)
• Eternal Spiral, Modern Art Museum, Shanghai (2023)
• Seven Phases, HYBE Insight Museum, Seoul (2021)
• Eternal Journey, Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul (2019)
• Azimuth, Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo (2018)
• Zugzwang, Hidari Zingaro Gallery, Tokyo (2015)
• Parallel Lives, Jack Tilton Gallery, New York City (2013)
• Rebus, Martha Otero Gallery, Los Angeles (2011)
• Kindling, Jonathan Levine Gallery, New York City (2009)

Select Group Exhibitions

• _Ukiyo-e In Play, _Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo (2025)
• Guillermo del Toro: Crafting Pinocchio, MoMA, New York City (2022)
• Running, Qingdao Art Museum, Qingdao (2021)
• The Eyes Have It. Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx, New York City (2021)
• Show Me The Signs, Blum and Poe Gallery, Los Angeles (2020)
• California Love, Galerie Droste, Wuppertal (2018)
• Juxtapoz X Superflat, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver (2016)
• Masterworks, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach (2014)
• Gin & Juice, Ivory & Black Soho, London (2012)
• LA Secret Studio, Parco Factory, Tokyo (2010)
• Panelists 2, Giant Robot Gallery, San Francisco (2006)

Further reading

• James Jean’s website
• James Jean’s Instagram
• 2025 profile of James Jean’s Meadowlark exhibition from Border Crossings __magazine
• Interview with James Jean about Meadowlark (2024)

James Jean FAQs

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