James McQueen

Supercharged with colour, James' book-themed artworks create an effect not dissimilar to the giant playing cards in Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Taking an object you can hold in your hands and blowing it up into something you can hang on your wall has been a long-time fascination of the artist, who seeks to capture the look and feel of vintage books via layers of stripped-back paint. An avid collector, he can often be found amongst the dusty shelves and secret backrooms of old bookshops in New York and London. 

Using paint and a spray can, James light-heartedly subverts the traditional representation of Penguin Books covers through his tongue-in-cheek titles and bold, contemporary aesthetic. The subject of books – explored by artists including the American illustrator Norman Rockwell – is given a modern feel through the incorporation of graffiti elements. Inspired by street artists like Banksy, these urban touches elevate the vintage, distressed feel of the book covers, adding texture and challenging their history. James adds: "I want to create that wear and tear, that authenticity. It’s too easy to do something clean. It’s too easy to do something with straight lines. It’s much harder to make something look old and tired."

Uniting book-lovers, ardent readers and collectors of art, his debut release, Non-Fiction, evokes the deeply personal experience and nostalgia that a book can create for its owner. Our emotional response to the words of a book – whether on the inside pages or the front cover – is personal to us. Just as each person interprets a character, or an artwork, differently, the quotes from James' book covers hold significance in uniquely special ways. The carefully-selected typography gives these titles a voice, allowing them to convey a message through humour or caution. 

James is a collector not only of books, but of memories; as a child, he painted with his grandfather and watched The Joy of Painting, an American live-painting show starring Bob Ross. Stylistic influences have also been meticulously shelved: the boldness of Tracey Emin, the honesty of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the abstraction of Francis Bacon. Likened to those of Mark Rothko, his faded layers reveal a surprising complexity to his work, heightened by a background in photography and woodwork. Joined together like the letters of a word, all of these elements combine to create art for people who want to escape from the stress and seriousness of real life, as if into the pages of a good book. 

Shop James' Non-Fiction collection here.