James was born in Montevideo in 1976 and grew up in the picturesque landscape of Uruguay until he moved to Buenos Aires at the age of ten. There he had a unique exposure to its flourishing underground art scene and had the privilege to study and collaborate with many influential artists of the time including Jorge Maculan and his uncle Michel Vulliety.
At 18 years of age he left home hitchhiking on what would be a ten year journey through the Americas where art in all forms would be his method of survival. Painting murals, live performance, fire juggling, tattooing, making jewelry and musical instruments, he made his way up the continent from Argentina to Canada. He began organizing social projects teaching artistic skills to local children and continued to develop numerous community art workshops throughout South and Central America, working with the local authorities and organizations in remote places of the continent where help was much needed. In Costa Rica 2001 he co-founded The Community Art Center of Monteverde and Casa Boom, which became an international oasis for artists and musicians traveling through Central America at the time.
James returned to Uruguay in 2005 where he founded an artist community and has since dedicated himself to bringing people together to create a new paradigm. He has been opening spaces, producing events, and providing a platform within which local and international artists and musicians can express, interact and co create. Working with many skilled builders, structural artists and architects including Bioconstruction master Gernot Minke, he directed his creative focus towards natural building, applying vision and alternative design in the construction of houses and communal centers.
Through painting, James has developed a form that communicates subtle aspects of our subconscious. A metaphor that transcends the restrictive layers of logical interpretation and relationship to image. An interaction with the formless where precision meets chaos, structure meets freedom, black meets white and known meets unknown. Revealing layers from a vast spectrum questioning the limits of micro and macro, he reflects occurrences and tendencies within our nature. The moment expressed through color and form, capturing movement in time.
James currently lives with his wife and daughter most of the year in California, where his primary artistic focus has been acrylic painting and installations. He continues to promote and facilitate the enrichment of artistic culture in Uruguay primarily through event production, a rotating exhibition in the Communal Center of “La Tierra Comunal” in Rocha, and the restoration of an antique theater.