"The essential inspiration for my work is people. Some of my work is concerned with the artistic representations of individuals and or events based on historical fact, while other works concentrate on interpretations of various elements of the human condition."
Greg James was born in Nedlands, Western Australia in 1954.
At 18 he enrolled at Claremont Technical College (later to become Claremont School of Art) where he studied Fine Art, majoring in Sculpture. Studies in Ceramics, Welding, Forging and Metal Casting, Fiberglass and Reinforced Plastics and Photography were undertaken concurrently at various colleges.
After graduating from Claremont School of Art in 1974 with a Diploma in Fine Art - Sculpture, he embarked on a two year work and study tour of Europe. During this time he attended drawing classes at the Hammersmith Polytechnic in London and worked as an artist's assistant in Spain.
On returning to Western Australia, he worked as a Sculpture Technician for Claremont School of Art for two years. In 1978 Greg set up a small foundry in his home studio, and staged his first solo exhibition. Fremantle became his base in 1987, where he took up studio space at the rear of the Fly By Night Musicians Club.
In 1990 he moved studio to Henry Street, re-established bronze casting facilities and produced The Strike for the Perth Mint and Pietro Porcelli (pictured left) for Kings Square, Fremantle.
In 1993 Greg moved studio to the J Shed, where he developed the Greg James Sculpture Studio Gallery, and has since established himself as a leading figurative sculptor.
Greg's numerous public sculptures have become well known landmarks throughout Fremantle and Perth. His small collectable work is currently on display throughout Australia, and in galleries in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. His work has also featured previously in Rome, Paris, London, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Hong Kong.
Today, Greg is a member of the City of Fremantle Public Art Taskforce, and continues to undertake commissions of artworks for public spaces, whilst creating a growing range of collectable sculpture, drawing and painting, available for sale.
To view Greg James' Curriculum Vitae please click here.
"The prime quality of Greg James sculpture is its sense of engagement - the feeling of being in a real presence when close to one of his figurative bronzes. To witness Greg at work is to witness the total engagement he gives to the subject. It is this total engagement with the subject he is re-making in clay that the viewer, and toucher, of his sculpture senses.
This statement may make it sound as though Greg James' sculpture comes totally from within, some sort of spiritual journey. However, the first stage, following the setting of the pose, is painstaking measuring and armature building. This steel armature is the skeletal structure which the entire sculpture hangs upon and is structured with fastidious care, care which ensures the figure is anatomically correct and believable.
Following the armature building Greg molds the figure in clay. The clay is where the presence of the subject is brought to the surface to be finally fixed in Bronze.
To retain quality, all the mold making and bronze casting is done in his Fremantle studio. An amazing range of skills and techniques are crammed into this relatively small space.
In Greg's abstracted figurative work the physical relationships within the human form are retained absolutely. That Greg can form a figure and then abstract it, as in the Iris series and Mist, takes these bronzes beyond a merely modern aesthetics."