James Siena

Born in 1957 in Oceanside (California, US), James Siena lives and works in New York.
James Siena is a pivotal artist in the New York art scene, particularly known for his creative process based on self-imposed parameters that he terms visual algorithms. By establishing a base unit that he infinitely and obsessively repeats, Siena takes possession of the surface plane in order to focus on complex geometric and abstract forms.
James Siena’s work explores numerous mediums, including lithography, engraves, drawing, and paintings of enamel on aluminum, a technique that characterizes his work since the 1990s. The rigorous mathematical process adopted by James Siena and the industrial technique of enamel on aluminum obscures neither the artist’s presence of hand nor the fragility of his lightest touch, which he applies and endlessly repeats.
The motion Siena creates, at once rational and poetic, confront us with an optical riddle that mixes chance and order, where the leitmotiv distinguishes itself in a group that at first glance appeared uniform. The little spaces, similar to fetishes, totems, or icons, concentrate a unique and hypnotic energy that invites the onlooker to choose his own path between the lines and to give himself over to the metaphysical experience.
Public collections (selection): Museum of Fine Arts (Boston), Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), MoMA (New York), Miami Art Museum (Florida), Whitney Museum of American Art (New York).
Works
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James Siena
CERTACTYLCLOR, 2019
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
190,5 x 152,4 cm -
James Siena
CRUISSRCUEOT, 2019
Acrylic and charcoal on canvas
190,5 x 152,4 cm -
James Siena
Large Red and Black Manifold, 2016
Ink on paper
65,4 x 51 cm -
James Siena
Expanded Non-Plankton, 2016
Ink on paper and museum board
29,5 x 23,5 cm (framed) -
James Siena
Non-Map Fragment with Prongs, 2016
Ink on paper and museum board
30,5 x 24,8 cm (framed) -
ames Siena
Triangle drawing, second version, 2011
Graphite on board
44 x 37 cm (framed) -
James Siena
Scattered Curve, Connected, 2009
Graphite on paper
29 x 23,5 cm (framed) -
James Siena
Connected Hooks with arrows (red), 2011 - 2012
Enamel on aluminium
74 x 57,5 cm -
James Siena
Closed Heliopolis, 2007
Ink on paper
152,5 x 101,5 cm -
James Siena
Floppy Combs, 2011
Enamel on aluminium
49 x 38,5 cm -
James Siena
Sawtoothed Mediterranean Form (île du Levant), 2012
Enamel on aluminium
49 x 38,5 cm -
James Siena
Underdog (Anti-Drain), 2012 - 2013
Enamel on aluminium
49 x 38,5 cm