James Maher
James Maher was born in New York 1954 and spent his childhood in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Jersey City, finally landing at the Jersey Shore for his teens. When entering adulthood, James moved to Miami and began to explore what independence, community and art means to a person. He discovered he never chose to be an artist, rather he used art and artistic thought to delve into and process his own learnings. In the late 1970s, James set down roots in the San Francisco Bay Area, established his business as a hairstylist and salon owner, started a family and continued his discovery into his own art. Using any and all mediums ranging from his regular application of oils, inks and acrylics, venturing into glass and steel work, and most recently, using industrial-inspired hardware, these individual pieces all fuse to communicate transitions and growth of James as an artist and can reflect our collective understandings.
“All of my work is a narrative, it’s not just shapes and forms; it’s a fragmented idea, it is fragmented to me too. It is not for me to tell you what it is. I’m hoping people look at the work and see it through the prism of their own narrative.”
