Introduction
Todd James (born 1969) is a contemporary artist from New York City. Self-taught, he started tagging the New York City Subway system under the name REAS when he was very young. James designed the Beastie Boys' Brooklyn Dust Elephant logo (1987) The Source (Magazine) logo as well as Mobb Deep, Red Man, Eminem, Kid Rock. Art from his coloring book/zine Attitude Dancer was used as a cover for Iggy Pop's Beat em up album . Todd Was the puppet designer for Crank Yankers on Comedy Central produced by Jimmy Kimmel and Jack Hole productions. He is also one of the artists who was commissioned to create a version of the Dungeons & Dragons ampersand for the digital magazine Dragon+.
He created, with Barry McGee and Steve Powers, Street Market at New York City's Deitch Projects. This exhibition was selected for the 2001 Venice Biennale. In 2004, he also participated in the group exhibition Beautiful Losers which travelled to several museums in the US. The Street Market installation was Re built and expanded for the L.A. MOCA "Art in the Streets" in 2011.
His works have been shown at numerous museums and galleries worldwide, like the Tate Liverpool, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts or the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Philadelphia.
His distinctive cartoon-style paintings are very ironic. Todd's paintings reflected a variety of influences, including the pop culture and American expressionist painters such as Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.
Selected solo exhibitions
- 2010
- Infinity Lessons, A.L.I.C.E. gallery, Brussels, Belgium
- Great Adventure, Galería Javier López, Madrid, Spain
- Make My Burden Lighter, Gering & López Gallery, New York City, New York, United States
- 2009
- Disaster, Monster Children Gallery, Australia
- Double Disaster, Don't Come Gallery, Australia
- Don't Stop Get it Get it, Colette, Paris, France
- 2008
- Blood & Treasure, Lazarides Gallery, London, United Kingdom
- 2007
- Trouble, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Selected group exhibitions
- 2010
- Brush Strokes, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Album exhibition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2009
- The Paper Chasers, Ohwow, New Zealand
- The New Yorkers, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2008
- The Outsiders, The Lazarides Gallery, New York City, New York, United States
- Destruction of Atlantis, Union Gallery London, United Kingdom
- 2007
- Paper Trails, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
- 2006
- High Math, V1 Gallery Copenhagen, Denmark
- Arkitip, Venice Beach, October, Todd James and KAWS, Venice, Italy
- Arkitip, Tokyo, December, Todd James and KAWS, Tokyo, Japan
- 2005
- Beautiful Losers, Contemporary Museum Baltimore, June 25 - Sept 25, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
- Beautiful Losers, Orange County Museum of Art, February 6 - May 15, Orange County, California
- 2004
- Beautiful Losers, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, March 13 - May 15, Cincinnati, Ohio
- Beautiful Losers, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, October 3, San Francisco, California, United States
- 2002
- Beloved Fiend, Todd James, Tate Liverpool Biennal, Liverpool, United Kingdom
- Pot o Gold 3, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Delta, Australia
- 2001
- Tits and Ass, Todd James and Jamil GS, Huston Gallery, Seattle, WA
- Pot o Gold 2, Todd James, Chris Johanson, and James Jarvis, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Australia
- 2000
- Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Deitch Projects, New York City, New York, United States
- Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Parco Gallery, Japan
- Untitled 2000, Japan Group show Keith Haring Foundation, Japan
- Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
- 1999
- Indelable Market, Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
- 1998
- Daze/Crash with guest Reas, Recent Works, Pallazzo Enrico Coveri Florence, Florence, Italy
- Adventures of the Four Letter Word, with Steve Powers