Guerin Projects are showcasing the latest works by artist James Vaulkhard at the British Art Fair, which takes place this weekend, 26 September to 29th at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The fair, known for its focus on Modern and Contemporary British Art, offers a prime platform for emerging and established artists.
In the SOLO Contemporary section, curated by Xavier Ellis, Guerin Projects founder Marie Claudine Llamas has curated a striking selection of Vaulkhard’s new chalk pastel drawings and a large-scale oil painting. These pieces reflect the natural beauty of Nairobi, a recurring theme in Vaulkhard’s work. Born in Kenya, Vaulkhard draws inspiration from his life in the vibrant city, with the local community and landscape playing a central role in his art.
A standout piece in the exhibition is an evocative portrait of a Kenyan fisherman, a figure from Vaulkhard’s childhood. This portrait showcases the artist’s deep connection to his homeland. Through his expressive use of pastel and oil, Vaulkhard captures the spirit of Nairobi and the enigmatic characters who inhabit it. The exhibition offers visitors a unique glimpse into Vaulkhard’s world, blending personal memories with the rich cultural backdrop of Kenya.
Vaulkhard spent his childhood in Nairobi, where he formed life-long relationships with the local people and a love of nature and the Kenyan landscape. He is deeply involved in the community and has set up an artist residency, where he is involved in a conservation project to protect the land from developers.
He captures the Kenyan coast and landscape with a bright, Post-Impressionist palette. The images include a delicate drawing of a canoeist on Lake Naivasha in Nairobi. Vaulkhard’s style has hints of Fauvism and magical realism, combined with the influences of Matisse and Peter Doig.
James Vaulkhard says: “In my recent series, one observes a profound entanglement with the characters of my formative years and the vivid essence of a landscape that is inextricably tied to my identity. These paintings transcend mere representation; they become vessels of memory, spontaneous yet deliberate tributes to the intricate interplay between nature and the nuanced tapestry of human relationships.”
Marie-Claudine Llamas: “I have been working with James for years, and I have witnessed his masterful growth from a Florentine representative way of painting to an abstract, emotional one. His use of colour now is deeply symbolic and filled with vulnerability. His work is extremely generous, resulting from arduous technical and emotional trials.”
Vaulkhard had classical training as a portrait painter at the Charles Cecil Studios in Florence, Italy. His aesthetic roots lie in the realm of classical oil painting, but he is best known for his modern multi-media approach to portraiture, particularly in the medium of collage. His contemporary works seek to address and respond to various zeitgeist issues. Vaulkhard blends a traditional artistic foundation with contemporary experimentation, and his creative practice blends past with present and tradition with innovation, inviting viewers to pause and reflect upon the beauty that permeates both the natural world and the human experience. Vaulkhard’s star is truly in the ascendant, and he was named ‘the artist to watch’ by The Gentleman’s Journal in 2018.
Guerin Projects Founder MC Llamas is rapidly making a name for herself as a star curator of the next generation and a prominent figure on the contemporary art scene, with acclaimed exhibitions over the past decade, including “A Comfortable Man” by Chas Smash at Wiltons Music Hall and “The Power of She” at Bowman Sculpture.
Vaulkhard’s recent artwork amalgamates classical techniques intertwined with experimental visual expressions. He ventures into nature’s abstract domains through bold, assertive colours and meticulously crafted processes. This approach does not merely depict but rather interrogates the intrinsic complexities and subtleties found within the natural world.
In his most recent work, Vaulkhard has combined techniques developed in both these works and married them to the aesthetic arena of Japanese art, explicitly addressing the mysterious concept of Ma or negative space. The result is a series of abstract landscapes intended to draw the viewer deeper into nature via an overwhelming visual cacophony that seeks to communicate the vast potentialities between the elements. James Vaulkhard’s paintings illuminate hope and lead us to a potential for growth that sheds light on a flourishing future. The artist draws inspiration from the Japanese theory of MA, coordinating the literary concept with a prodigious knowledge of Florentine classical canons of depth, embodied by shadows, reflections and light.
James has been developing this body of work over the last two years, drawing his inspiration from landscapes in both Singapore and Kenya. The works are best described as dreamscapes in the noblest sense: they are landscapes mused from memories. His works echo an abstraction found in Claude Monet’s Water Lilies. Similarly to the French artist, James’ works capture a constantly changing natural light and colour, which dissolves all spatial cues and where adjacent elements intermingle. Each painting is a token for a balmy meditative moment. The physical occurrence of water lilies also reflects upon a peaceful overtone, describing an ascension from the worldly to the spiritual. Vaulkhard’s works are an omen that touches on metaphors of the living and the lost.
James propositions the viewer with a rediscovery of the meaning of space, how it is occupied, and how it overflows with the weight and light of the ethereal. The works portray our geopsyche. He manifests hidden spirits and makes them reappear as blooms on the canvas.
His oeuvre shows us that nature is an abstraction. Foliage is a palette for the artist to play with, and the patterns in verdure are the stencils of the human spirit, constantly repeated and adapted to the canvases of our lives. These carvings of nature lead to negative spaces charged with even more abstraction: “the silence between the notes which make the music.”
In his most recent body of work, James develops his approach to the concept of MA; he talks about the legacy of the forest surrounding his home in Kenya. His work has strong visual references to Peter Doig and David Hockney. James’ palette tells a different story from the one seen in his compositions. The hues are evocative of memories; they aren’t descriptions of nature but the nostalgia they convey. Similarly to Doig, James is a voyeur to his environment, a painterly novelist of the sceneries surrounding him.
James Vaulkhard: “‘The peculiar nature of the universe lies in its fleeting physical manifestation, existing solely in the present moment. In my recent series, I find myself entwined with the echoes of my youth and the vibrant essence of a land intrinsically linked to my being. These paintings serve as vessels of memory, spontaneous tributes to the interplay of nature and the delicate tapestry of relationships. Through them, I endeavour to capture the fleeting beauty of the past, forging a bridge to the present with each artwork.
For Vaulkhard, the endeavour to capture the ephemeral beauty of the past is not simply an exercise in nostalgia; it is a sophisticated attempt to forge a tangible bridge to the present, encapsulating the transient yet impactful moments that define our existence. Each artwork presented at the British Art Fair is a testament to the fleeting nature of time, articulated through a dialogue between colour and form that is both evocative and intellectually stimulating.
Artist Peterson Kamwathi adds: “I live in a rural area just outside Nairobi, and many of the scenographies depicted in James’ artworks are familiar. Vegetation, terrain and our insertion into these physical sites are central to James Vaulkhard’s latest paintings and drawings. Superbly rendered, this subject matter is recognisable as it gently nags at our attitudes towards nature, memory and relationships.
The familiarity I mention is not a linkage to specific places but is rather one anchored on personal resonances; this recognition that the activity or space portrayed goes beyond mere representation and serves as an evocation of cycles of seasons, motions of daily activity, the smell of the earth, our place in it and inevitably, the decay. I have been constantly drawn to the areas of shade in the artworks. Apart from accentuating the glamour and dynamism of colour, these areas of shadow, shade and silhouette inject a measure of disquiet into James’s artworks. Do shadows become the portals into the realms of memory? Do shadows have reflections? Looking at these artworks, I can appreciate the weight of the alluring yet vital inconsistency embedded in our relationship with the natural/physical world. For me, here the shadows have reflections.”
Marie-Claudine Llamas, a French, London-based independent curator, leads Guerin Projects. Over the past decade, Llamas has curated numerous large-scale acclaimed shows, including Chas Smash’s “A Comfortable Man” Show at Wiltons Music Hall and “The Power of She” at Bowman Sculpture.
The British Art Fair is at Saatchi Gallery from 26 September – 29 September 2024