Dancing With Death

James McQueen is a British artist based between London and New York. Operating under a pseudonym, he has created paintings publicly as James McQueen since 2017. Born from his admiration of Penguin Books, the iconic British publishing company, McQueen’s art appropriates the design and branding of an inexpensive, mass-produced and consumed product to echo Andy Warhol’s appropriated imagery in the Campbell’s Soup paintings. Like Warhol, McQueen celebrates the everyday product by making these book covers monumental and vibrant.

McQueen’s technique is a process of layering the canvas with an abundant application of paint in a number of colours and shades before, once dry, he sands the work down so that a multitude of layers are visible in the finished piece. Finally, the surface is covered with lacquer to add extra richness and vibrancy. His complex use of paint elevates his art beyond the mere imitation of a nostalgic object towards an art that is rich and expressive.

View more James McQueen original artworks here, or read about the artist here.