“The Swimmers” by James Bullough

The swimmers float through the rear courtyard, full of slightly tense anticipation about what might await them just around the corner.

As if under water

James Bullough picked a rear courtyard in Washington’s U-Street for this mysterious work. The realistic portrayal of the figures is tarnished by minor fragmentations and irregularities and challenges the viewer to focus on the content due to the lack of resolution. Are they swimming? Where to? Is that water? The slight shifts in the light blue and white texture are reminiscent of reflections of the light as it passes through the rippling water. Its weightless state contrasts with the tension that is evident on the faces of the figures and belies the assumption that the medium is water.

James Bullough

Born in America, James Bullough has been living and working for many years in Berlin. His paintings and monumental site-specific murals are phenomenal combinations of realistic painting technique and graphic punctuation. An artist from Washington, DC, he was inspired in his early years particularly by dark graffiti. Bullough exploited its energy in his work and perfected the realistic technique of oil painting by studying the Old Masters. By combining the dynamism of the former with the technical precision of the latter, he succeeds in conjuring up convincing contrasts and confrontations in his works. Bullough works with all kinds of different materials – from oil and spray paint to India ink on canvas. His realistic figures are regularly distorted by stylized glitches to challenge the perception of the viewer.

https://blog.phillipscollection.org/2015/09/17/mural-905-street/
www.graffitiprints.com/artist/james-bullough/
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