Cottontail 2021

James Jean made "Cottontail" with what looks like a candy-coated dream palette. Imagine him, brush in hand, coaxing these forms into being, a kind of dance between intention and accident. I see a figure floating amidst clouds of rabbits and floral patterns, a surreal landscape emerging from a ground of crimson drips. It’s like Jean is building a world, layering each element with meticulous care, yet allowing the paint to have its own say. I wonder if he was thinking about the fleeting nature of beauty, or maybe the cycles of growth and decay? The way the colors blend and bleed suggests a constant state of flux, like everything is transforming before our eyes. There’s a conversation happening here between Pop Art and Surrealism. He is in a dialogue with other painters who have explored similar territories of the imagination. These kinds of exchanges that transcend time—artists riffing off each other, borrowing, and reinterpreting—ultimately make art so alive! It’s a reminder that painting is never really finished, but rather a continual unfolding of ideas and possibilities.