Todd James
Encyclopedia
Todd James is a contemporary artist from New York City
. Self-taught, he started painting when he was very young the New York subway system under the name REAS.
James designed the Beastie Boys
' Brooklyn Dust Elephant logo (1987) The Source (Magazine)
logo as well as Mobb Deep
, Red Man
, Eminem
, Kid Rock
. Art from his coloring book/zine Attitude Dancer was used as a cover for Iggy Pop
's Beat em up album . Todd Was the puppet designer for Crank Yankers
on Comedy Central
produced by Jimmy Kimmel
and Jack Hole productions.
He created, with Barry McGee
and Steve Powers, Street Market at New York City
's Deitch Projects
. This exhibition was selected for the 2001 Venice Biennale
. In 2004, he also participated in the group exhibition Beautiful Losers
which travelled to several museums in the US. The Street Market installation was Re built and expanded for the L.A. MOCA "Art in the Streets" in 2011.
His works have been shown at numerous museums and galleries worldwide, like the Tate Liverpool
, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
or the Institute of Contemporary Arts
in Philadelphia.
His distinctive cartoon
-style paintings are very ironic. Todd's paintings reflected a variety of influences, including the pop culture and American expressionist painters such as Willem de Kooning
and Franz Kline
.
He lives and works in New York City.
Infinity Lessons, A.L.I.C.E. gallery, Brussels
, Belgium
Great Adventure, Galería Javier López, Madrid
, Spain
Make My Burden Lighter, Gering & López Gallery, New York, NY
2009
Disaster, Monster Children Gallery, Australia
Double Disaster, Don't Come Gallery, Australia
Don't Stop Get it Get it, Colette, Paris
, France
2008
Blood & Treasure, Lazarides Gallery, London
, UK
2007
Trouble, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen
, Denmark
Brush Strokes, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Album exhibition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009
The Paper Chasers, Ohwow
, New Zealand
The New Yorkers, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008
The Outsiders, The Lazarides Gallery, New York, NY
Destruction of Atlantis, Union Gallery London, UK
2007
Paper Trails, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2006
High Math, V1 Gallery Copenhagen, Denmark
Arkitip, Venice Beach, October, Todd James and KAWS, Venice
, Italy
Arkitip, Tokyo, December, Todd James and KAWS, Tokyo
, Japan
2005
Beautiful Losers, Baltimore Contemporary Museum, June 25 - Sept 25, Baltimore, MD
Beautiful Losers, Orange County Museum of Art
, February 6 - May 15, Orange County, CA
2004
Beautiful Losers, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, March 13 - May 15, Cincinnati, OH
Beautiful Losers, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, October 3, San Francisco, CA
2002
Beloved Fiend, Todd James, Tate Liverpool Biennal, Liverpool, UK
Pot o Gold 3, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Delta, Australia
2001
Tits and Ass, Todd James and Jamil GS, Huston Gallery, Seattle, WA
Pot o Gold 2, Todd James, Chris Johanson, and James Jarvis, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Australia
2000
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Deitch Projects
, New York, NY
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Parco Gallery, Japan
Untitled 2000, Japan Group show Keith Haring Foundation, Japan
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1999
Indelable Market, Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
1998
Daze/Crash with guest Reas, Recent Works, Pallazzo Enrico Coveri Florence, Florence
, Italy
Adventures of the Four Letter Word, with Steve Powers
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Self-taught, he started painting when he was very young the New York subway system under the name REAS.
James designed the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
' Brooklyn Dust Elephant logo (1987) The Source (Magazine)
The Source (magazine)
The Source is a United States-based, monthly full-color magazine covering hip-hop music, politics, and culture, founded in 1988. It is the world's second longest running rap periodical, behind United Kingdom-based publication Hip Hop Connection. The Source was founded as a newsletter in 1988...
logo as well as Mobb Deep
Mobb Deep
Mobb Deep is an American hip hop duo from Queensbridge, Queens, New York, U.S., that consists of Havoc and Prodigy. The duo is "one of the most critically acclaimed hardcore East Coast hip-hop groups." The group is best known for its dark, hardcore delivery, as exemplified by the single "Shook Ones...
, Red Man
Red Man
Red Man is a leading brand of chewing tobacco in the United States, produced since 1904. Red Man has traditionally come as leaf tobacco, in contrast to twist chewing tobacco or the ground tobacco used in snuff, and became a leader in that form of oral/dental/mouth tobacco. It is made by the...
, Eminem
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III , better known by his stage name Eminem or his alter ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer, songwriter and actor. Eminem's popularity brought his group project, D12, to mainstream recognition...
, Kid Rock
Kid Rock
Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...
. Art from his coloring book/zine Attitude Dancer was used as a cover for Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...
's Beat em up album . Todd Was the puppet designer for Crank Yankers
Crank Yankers
Crank Yankers is an American TV show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison that featured actual prank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, and re-enacted onscreen by puppets for a visual aid to show the viewer what is happening in the call...
on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
produced by Jimmy Kimmel
Jimmy Kimmel
James Christian "Jimmy" Kimmel is an American television host and comedian. He is the host of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, a late-night talk show that airs on ABC. Prior to that, Kimmel was best known as the co-host of Comedy Central's The Man Show and Win Ben Stein's Money...
and Jack Hole productions.
He created, with Barry McGee
Barry McGee
Barry McGee is a painter and graffiti artist. He is also known by monikers such as Ray Fong, Lydia Fong, Bernon Vernon, P.Kin, Ray Virgil, Twist and further variations of Twist, such as Twister, Twisty, Twisto and others.-Life and career:McGee graduated from El Camino High School in South...
and Steve Powers, Street Market at New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Deitch Projects
Deitch Projects
Deitch Projects was a contemporary art gallery in New York City founded by Jeffrey Deitch.-History:Since opening with a performance by Vanessa Beecroft in February 1996, the gallery has presented nearly one hundred and eighteen solo exhibitions and projects, ten thematic exhibitions, and a few...
. This exhibition was selected for the 2001 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
. In 2004, he also participated in the group exhibition Beautiful Losers
Beautiful Losers (film)
Beautiful Losers is a 2008 documentary feature film by director Aaron Rose and co-directed by Joshua Leonard. It was produced by Sidetrack Films in association with BlackLake Productions, and stars several artists including Harmony Korine, writer of independent cult films Kids and Gummo.It...
which travelled to several museums in the US. The Street Market installation was Re built and expanded for the L.A. MOCA "Art in the Streets" in 2011.
His works have been shown at numerous museums and galleries worldwide, like the Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development Corporation...
, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is a multi-disiplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, national, and international artists and the Bay Area's diverse...
or the Institute of Contemporary Arts
Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Institute of Contemporary Arts is an artistic and cultural centre on The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. It is located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps and Admiralty Arch...
in Philadelphia.
His distinctive cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
-style paintings are very ironic. Todd's paintings reflected a variety of influences, including the pop culture and American expressionist painters such as Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
and Franz Kline
Franz Kline
Franz Jozef Kline was an American painter mainly associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement centered around New York in the 1940s and 1950s. He was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and attended Girard College, an academy in Philadelphia for fatherless boys...
.
He lives and works in New York City.
Selected solo exhibitions
2010Infinity Lessons, A.L.I.C.E. gallery, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
Great Adventure, Galería Javier López, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
Make My Burden Lighter, Gering & López Gallery, New York, NY
2009
Disaster, Monster Children Gallery, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
Double Disaster, Don't Come Gallery, Australia
Don't Stop Get it Get it, Colette, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
2008
Blood & Treasure, Lazarides Gallery, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK
2007
Trouble, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
Selected group exhibitions
2010Brush Strokes, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Album exhibition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009
The Paper Chasers, Ohwow
OHWOW
OHWOW is a contemporary art gallery, publisher, and producer of special projects, established in 2008 by Al Moran and Aaron Bondaroff in Miami, now with exhibition and retail locations in Los Angeles, Miami, and New York City.- About :...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
The New Yorkers, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008
The Outsiders, The Lazarides Gallery, New York, NY
Destruction of Atlantis, Union Gallery London, UK
2007
Paper Trails, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2006
High Math, V1 Gallery Copenhagen, Denmark
Arkitip, Venice Beach, October, Todd James and KAWS, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Arkitip, Tokyo, December, Todd James and KAWS, Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
2005
Beautiful Losers, Baltimore Contemporary Museum, June 25 - Sept 25, Baltimore, MD
Beautiful Losers, Orange County Museum of Art
Orange County Museum of Art
The Orange County Museum of Art is a museum located in Newport Beach, California.The museum's collection comprises more than 3,000 objects, with a concentration on the art of California from the early 20th century to present...
, February 6 - May 15, Orange County, CA
2004
Beautiful Losers, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, March 13 - May 15, Cincinnati, OH
Beautiful Losers, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, October 3, San Francisco, CA
2002
Beloved Fiend, Todd James, Tate Liverpool Biennal, Liverpool, UK
Pot o Gold 3, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Delta, Australia
2001
Tits and Ass, Todd James and Jamil GS, Huston Gallery, Seattle, WA
Pot o Gold 2, Todd James, Chris Johanson, and James Jarvis, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Australia
2000
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Deitch Projects
Deitch Projects
Deitch Projects was a contemporary art gallery in New York City founded by Jeffrey Deitch.-History:Since opening with a performance by Vanessa Beecroft in February 1996, the gallery has presented nearly one hundred and eighteen solo exhibitions and projects, ten thematic exhibitions, and a few...
, New York, NY
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Parco Gallery, Japan
Untitled 2000, Japan Group show Keith Haring Foundation, Japan
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1999
Indelable Market, Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
1998
Daze/Crash with guest Reas, Recent Works, Pallazzo Enrico Coveri Florence, Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Adventures of the Four Letter Word, with Steve Powers