James Collins

James Collins is known for minimalist op art and abstract works that are created through various processes he has developed with custom tools. Producing gestural abstract paintings that evoke chemistry and chance, Collins considers his artistic process a chemical experience. Relying on the nature of oil and acrylic paints to repel in their fluid states, Collins creates a “catalytic event as the different mediums repel each other momentarily." Of this event he says, "in this regard the painting itself dictates the outcome. There is no room for error. If the chemistry is off, the painting has to be destroyed and I start over.” Collins has shown in a number of group exhibitions including New Emerging Artists, Expo Miami, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Kalamazoo, MI, Rogue Buddha Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, and Tracy Williams Ltd., New York. Collins won the Grand Prize for the West Michigan Area Show at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts in 2012.