New artist James Seow, with his brand new limited edition
The Garden Path III.
Once in a while you find an artist aside from exhibitions, art fairs or at final year shows. The moment I saw
James Seow’s stunning landscape creations, I had a feeling they would be a fantastic addition to Eyestorm and got in touch with him immediately.
James is a charming character and I knew the moment I met him that he was a dedicated and hard-working artist. Our first meeting was in a coffee shop in Clerkenwell near to our London office where he proceeded to pull out from a cardboard tube a rather large print he was working on at the time, unrolling it onto the small table we were occupying. Oblivious of our surroundings, James continued to enthusiastically tell me about the piece in great detail along with his plans for the future and all the projects he was currently working on. I knew from this moment he would be an interesting artist to work with, and so far he hasn’t proved me wrong.
James believes his hybrid Malaysian, Chinese and British identity has played a significant part in his approach to making art. During his upbringing in Malaysia during the 1990s, he witnessed the transformation of the country through mass deforestation and urban planning, which says a lot about the focus on nature and its relationship with urban life within his work. In a recent trip back to the country, he was inspired by his mother’s beautifully tended to garden, which to him became a place of serenity and peace, representing “nature itself”. Watching his mother in her garden as she contemplated where each plant should be placed and how each area should look, he likened it to painting, where each area is carefully thought out and built up to create a finished ‘piece’.
This way of thinking is what has resulted in the print we’re presenting today, our new limited edition
The Garden Path III. Drawing references from classical Chinese ink painting and 19th century Romantic landscape and 17th century Still Life painting from the West, Seow looks to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western aesthetics of nature through digital photomontage. By collecting imagery from online sources, he looks at how we experience the natural world in the current digital age by creating mythical naturalistic ‘gardens’. At closer inspection you can see some digital aesthetics in areas as compositions dissolve into each other. Delicate exotic birds are placed next to colourful plants amongst rocks and streams to create the ‘perfect’ harmonious arrangement, presenting a precarious balance of realty and illusion.
When we were discussing the scale of the piece, we both agreed it should be large so as to allow the viewer to wander through it with their eyes as if it was a cinematic space. James’s intention with this work was to lead the observer through a continuous aesthetic experience, and when you see the piece in the flesh in all its glory, I think you’ll agree that he has succeeded.
The Garden Path III is our first limited edition with James Seow and is available to buy online from today. In an edition of only 20, the photographic print is large in scale at 105 x 75 cm and priced at £795.00. See the work in more detail
here.