An emerging multidisciplinary artist is rising to stardom, leaving a remarkable impression that could rival the likes of Lichtenstein and Warhol.
Pop art inspired British artist James Lewis began his artistic journey at the age of 16 to improve his handwriting “by taking up calligraphy as a hobby,” he says. James adds, “The hobby quickly grew into a passion for the creative process, and I was hooked."
Armed with a graphic design degree, he transitioned into a full-time artistic practice, starting as a commercial lettering artist. He reflects, "Beginning my career as a commercial lettering artist, I slowly developed my creative style as I learned how to best produce entertaining, artistic video content."
He’s underselling himself here: he’s accumulated more than one billion views on his videos.
Beyond the digital realm, he actively participates in the physical art world, exhibiting his work and conducting art workshops globally. He collaborates with renowned brands on diverse creative projects ranging from video content creation and public speaking to live mural painting and product development.
His creative journey over the past decade has seen notable transitions. After graduating, he ventured into freelance work, handling logo design and hand lettering projects. James recalls, "I began sharing photos of my creative process on Instagram in 2014 as a way to document my progression and connect with like-minded creatives from around the world."
He transitioned from typography, lettering, and calligraphy to a new challenge: painting characters, “which is what I'm known for now,” James says, “and from there, I started videoing my creative process, and that's when the platform started to really blow up."
With more than 7.5 million followers on social media, James stands as one of the most recognised artistic video creators. His work has attracted art collectors worldwide and opened doors to collaborations with prominent companies.
In recent years, the self-taught artist has delved into pop art, exploring its ability to add ironic twists to familiar narratives. James says, "My intention is to create characters in different lights to communicate different ideas and raise questions about whether we should be putting these characters on a pedestal or, instead, understand why they are communicating these messages." He raises an important question about the nature of modern pop art and cartoon, “are these characters genuine, or are they manufactured to influence certain feelings and ideas?”
During the creation process, James explains that the state he’s in is the most important part. “People often comment about how satisfying the brushstrokes are, but to achieve that, I really need to do my best to relax and get in the zone. I lower the blood pressure, do a bit of meditation and breathwork, play relaxing music and do everything I can to centre myself and put myself in the right state of mind.” He adds, “A lot of work goes into getting to that point where I can pull very long, satisfying brushstrokes.”
With the recent exhibition at Red Eight, James and another Red Eight artist, Nick Bultman, collaborated on a project, which Lewis describes as “a lot of fun”. He explains, “Nick has an abstract background. I was able to interpret that with my pop art style complementing his more raw, expressive style. It was really interesting to combine these two styles to see what would come out of it.”
James has also collaborated with the likes of Rolls-Royce, Samsung, Converse, Nickelodeon, Amazon, Meta, and many more.
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Main Image: James Lewis, Seraph, 2023