James Drake

Works
Overview
View works. James Drake, Salon of Eternal Souls, 1996
Salon of Eternal Souls, 1996
View works

James Drake (b. 1946, Texas) explores the human condition, specifically its emotions and borders, through drawings, video, sculpture, photography, installations and print. In his career spanning over four decades, Drake has created a diverse body of work, including a collection of 1,242 drawings (Anatomy of Drawing and Space: Brain) and an installation examining the division between humans and animals (The Trophy Room). Discussing the artist’s oeuvre, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego Kathryn Kanjo writes, “he defies a ready, singular style. Instead, Drake maps a space of humanity toggling between the languages of physics and poetry, illustrated by images of current events and cultural history.”

 

Drake received his MFA and his BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. In 2007, his work was featured at the 52nd International Venice Biennale, curated by Robert Storr, and at the 2000 Whitney Biennial. Drake is the recipient of numerous awards, including three National Endowment for the Arts Grants (1988, 1989), a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (2001, and a Nancy Graves Award for Visual Arts (2001). The artist’s work is collected by numerous public institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), New Orleans Museum of Art, New Mexico Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), and Brooklyn Museum (New York). The artist currently lives and works in Santa Fe.

 

Related Works

  • The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego writes, “[Drake] defies a ready, singular style. Instead, Drake maps a space of humanity toggling between the languages of physics and poetry, illustrated by images of current events and cultural history.” Drake's contemporary Jim Dine is similarly difficult to categorize, while Robert Rauschenberg also blends political and cultural imagery in innovative ways.

  • One of Drake's most famous series is The Trophy Room, an installation that critiques interspecies violence. In the collection of our sister gallery, form & concept, Korean ceramicist Wookjae Maeng explores similar themes in a series of porcelain animal busts. View his work.