James Jaxxa (CV)

Jaxxa’s multi-faceted practice explores pleasure, liberation, vulnerability and courage through the creation of shiny, colorful and glittery artworks. Jaxxa currently lives and works in New York City, and previously lived in Seattle. In New York City, his work has been shown at New Collectors, New York Public Library, La MaMa, Pavel Zoubok, apexart, Longwood Art Project, Exit Art and Rush Arts. In Seattle, his work was shown at Bellevue Art Museum, Vital 5, and with the Seattle Art Museum. His public artwork, Potential Connections was installed for the opening of Seattle’s mass transit system. Jaxxa’s work has been included in publications by Visual AIDS, Seattle Weekly, The Seattle Times, The New York Times and New York Public Library. He is a recipient of an Artists Space Independent Project Grant and Seattle Arts Commission Purchase Award. He is a member of I Found U, a global collective of interdisciplinary artists, and was an artist in residence at Barac in Mannheim, Germany. Jaxxa is currently enrolled in The School of Visual Arts MFA program (class of 2023), received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Michigan State University, and attended the summer program at Rhode Island School of Design.

Artist Statement

The concept of an orderly, systemized modern life constantly ruptures to reveal elements that I find seductive, brutal, contradictory and absurd. It is from this prodigious and fantastic reality that I choose the objects and symbols for my art. Like the playground of a high-energy dance club where glamor and joyful abandon meet desperation and loneliness, I meld fantasy and reality through the artistic processes of transformation and accumulation. I explore pleasure, liberation, vulnerability and courage through the creation of shiny, colorful and glittery multi-disciplinary artworks.