James Gallagher

James Gallagher uses collage to investigate human form and personal identity. Piecing together images cut from discarded books, forgotten issues of National Geographic, and the occasional vintage sex-manual, Gallagher creates stark and provocative scenes that reflect the world around him. His work focuses on personal space, physical relationships, and enigmatic situations. The human forms that he creates have obscured identities, allowing for their actions to convey the drama. He constructs scenes by sifting-through, and piecing-together imagery cut from obscure books and magazines. In a constant state of layering paper, moving shapes, adding and subtracting colors, he waits for figures to form, and something exciting to happen.

Gallagher’s art has been shown in galleries around the world. He has recently curated a series of exhibitions showcasing contemporary collage entitled Cutters (Brooklyn, New York 2009, Berlin, Germany 2010, and Cork, Ireland 2011) and has edited a related book published by Gestalten entitled Cutting Edges: Contemporary Collage. Gallagher’s art has been featured in magazines such as Arkitip, Juxtapoz, Elephant, Cent, NYArts, Twill and Lines & Shapes. His images have appeared in numerous books, including American Illustration, Communication Arts, and a variety of Die Gestalten Publications. The Italian independent publisher Cura.Books is set to released a limited artist book coinciding with a solo exhibition at CO2 Gallery in Rome, late 2011. In addition, the street wear company Stussy launched a series of Stussy x James Gallagher t-shirts as well as a video profile early 2012. Gallagher is also the publisher and creative director of the magazine Secret Behavior.