“I create my work more on the criteria of aesthetics and energy in the piece and less about meaning and backstory,” explains American muralist James Bullough of his latest laser sliced photorealist portrait in Roanoke Virginia. “In my opinion, that’s what art, especially public art is all about, to create a discussion, not to preach to the public and tell them my opinions.”
James Bullough in Roanoke, Virginia. (photo courtesy of the artist)
The image is full of movement and a foreboding feeling of things coming apart, in hurried disarray. The elegantly everyday form appears to be without her bearings, as if being swung from the center, or perhaps propelled backward and downward.
James Bullough in Roanoke, Virginia. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Perhaps the image is simply too abstract for passersby to contemplate, or perhaps it is so familiar in the US as to be a mirror of how many feel during this time where the foundations are being deliberately ripped from beneath the population, preparing them for…
“When people ask me at the wall what it is, or what it means, or who the woman is, I turn it back on them,” says James. “I ask for their thoughts and inevitably their interpretations are far more elaborate and varied than I could have imagined.”
James Bullough in Roanoke, Virginia. (photo courtesy of the artist)
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Images of the Week 03.20.11
As winter loosens it's grip, the first signs of spring are popping up all over New York, with new buds of passion from tender branches, construction walls, softened soil and industrial doorways. What...
As winter loosens it's grip, the first signs of spring are popping up all over New York, with new buds of passion from tender branches, construction walls, softened soil and industrial doorways. What...
Fernando Alcalá Losa : Wishes & Hopes for 2017
As we near the new year we’ve asked a special guest every day to take a moment to reflect on 2016 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for him or her. It's an assortment...
As we near the new year we’ve asked a special guest every day to take a moment to reflect on 2016 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for him or her. It's an assortment...
BSA Images Of The Week: 01.24.16
Happy blizzard weekend New York! Who knew it would be so much fun to run free literally in the streets thanks to a travel ban on all non-emergency cars. It's a bit of genius really, because if you...
Happy blizzard weekend New York! Who knew it would be so much fun to run free literally in the streets thanks to a travel ban on all non-emergency cars. It's a bit of genius really, because if you...
Tracking Phlegm in Wynwood, Miami.
Phlegm. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo) It’s over a year old, but this mural by UK's Phlegm along rail tracks in Miami has a certain timeless quality. Maybe it is the illustrator’s monochroma...
Phlegm. Wynwood, Miami. (photo © Jaime Rojo) It’s over a year old, but this mural by UK's Phlegm along rail tracks in Miami has a certain timeless quality. Maybe it is the illustrator’s monochroma...
disCONNECT / VHILS / A Red Door's Journey
disCONNECT - a ‘locked-down’ artist takeover If you send your red painted door to Vhils in Lisbon you KNOW that you’ll be thrilled to see it come back! Doors removed from the library to b...
disCONNECT - a ‘locked-down’ artist takeover If you send your red painted door to Vhils in Lisbon you KNOW that you’ll be thrilled to see it come back! Doors removed from the library to b...