Dance 2018

James Jean conjured "Dance" with a candy-sweet palette of pinks, oranges, blues, and browns. Imagine Jean in his studio, coaxing these flowers and figures into existence, line by line. There’s a definite graphic sensibility happening, that clean-edged pop that feels contemporary. I get a sense of the ethereal here, like a dream dipped in sugar. Look at the way those lines of yellow confetti float around – they’re like stray thoughts, or maybe the sheer joy of making. It makes me think about Yoshitomo Nara and his big-headed figures. Painters? We're all magpies. We take, we transform, we talk back to each other across time. So take your time here, and let it all wash over you. Let’s not get bogged down in trying to decode all this; instead, let's just vibe with the dream of it all.