Photo credit – Lucky Wenzel
In the following interview we speak with American artist, photographer and entrepreneur James Stanford.
A pioneer in the digital arts movement, leader in the development of the Las Vegas arts community, founder of his own publishing house, and devout Buddhist artist, Stanford and his practice are unique and eclectic. From complex digital photomontages to light installations and large-scale mural projects, Stanford’s multidisciplinary vision speaks to a life-long personal engagement with Las Vegas’ cultural heritage and rich landscape.
Hi James, tell us a little bit about yourself.
I can’t remember when I was unaware of the magic and power of Art. My oldest brother Jerry was an artist, and his work inspired me to draw and paint at a very early age. I spent my childhood drawing. I was 10 years old when I got my first set of oils. After seeing the work of Paul Klee, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Jackson Pollack, Jasper Johns, etc., I noticed that most of the Modern artists had academic training. They could draw and they knew how to paint, and they knew the rules of composition, yet they chose to break the rules and try new approaches to their work. I made up my mind to follow in their footsteps. First, I would learn to draw. Then I would learn to paint representationally. Once I mastered that, I would try abstraction and alternative media. Then at age 16, I discovered the book, “Vision in Motion” by Lazlo Maholy Nagy. I learned about Dadaism, Surrealism and the Bauhaus. I was hooked. I discovered Applied Arts, and realized that if I could draw, I could make a living designing things.
You are an accomplished digital artist and photographer with a unique practice. How would you describe your art?
In 1986, I left after 10 years of teaching studio art in the University setting. At UNLV, I originated the Alternative Painting Materials and Techniques course, teaching fresco, egg tempera, hot wax encaustic, distemper, and I created my own cold wax water soluble painting medium. I was always searching for a medium that suited my ideas. But it wasn’t until I left teaching that I found my own personal medium. Politics at the university was stultifying, I felt the need for a change, so I formed my own graphics studio. It was through this transition that I discovered digital art. I started the first graphics studio in Las Vegas to make the transformation from traditional tools and skills to Macintosh computers. By 1987 we had abandoned chemical typesetting and copy cameras and had entered the world of Photoshop and Illustrator. I had been using my camera to gather images that I thought I might someday be able to incorporate into my paintings. Without realizing it, I had built up quite a body of photographs. By 1993, I began to concentrate on the digital montage. Soon I discovered that there were many ways to print my digital montages. I didn’t need to paint them.
Back in graduate school my teachers had made me painfully aware that I needed to create more output at a faster pace. I wasn’t a trust funder so I needed to support myself. I would need to turn out work faster and in greater quantities if I was to make a living at it. After trading in studio art for photography and digital art, I benefited from the speed that I had picked up from my commercial art efforts. I could finally keep up with my growth as an artist. I began turning out work at an amazing rate. I was really growing faster as an image maker, keeping pace with my ideas, not getting bogged down.
Through my progress as a practitioner of Zen Buddhism, I soon discovered what I wanted to explore. Mandala had always interested me. I loved exploring mirrored images. Symmetry had been so difficult to create before the advent of the computer and Photoshop. So, I began to explore the forbidden and formerly impossible world of Perfect Symmetry. Infinitely repeatable patterns became a metaphor for Indra’s Jewel Net, an ancient description of this holographic universe that we discover when we look within ourselves.
You are best known for your intricate digital montages that draw on Zen Buddhist philosophy to reimagine iconic Las Vegas architecture, world famous neon signs and hotels, like the Flamingo Hotel or Caesar’s Palace. What is it about Las Vegas that appeals to you most?
I gave a dharma talk three years ago, in London, someone asked, “Do you think that your birth in Las Vegas was an accident?” That question blew my mind. I already knew the answer. It was no accident that I was born in the middle of Nevada’s Mojave Desert, it was karma.
Everyone has karma. Some people have Tibetan karma, some people have Kansas Karma; I have Las Vegas karma. I am a native Las Vegan, born and raised in small resort town, a railroad stop in an unlikely oasis in the Southwest United States. As a teenager, I cruised Fremont Street, Glitter Gulch, listening to the Rolling Stones. And I rubbed elbows with the Rat Pack. I was always fascinated by the glow of neon lights, the glitz and glamour juxtaposed against the vastness and desolation of a vast desert.
Beyond formal considerations, my work responds to more esoteric interests, artistic expressions of spirituality in the form of Zen Buddhism, and metaphysical concepts, including the creation of illusionistic fictive space. My interest in transforming reality into imagined realms has taken many forms, including a photomontage series, Shimmering Zen, originally called Indra’s Jewels. The series takes as its point of departure the Hua Yen Buddhist concept of totality within the metaphor of Indra’s Jewel Net.
Today, I am concerned with the development of a visual expression of a philosophy which brings greater understanding to the concept of Unity of Polarity. I attempt to illustrate the true nature of opposites and how they affect each other. I like to illustrate the fact that bad exists on the same pole as good, and how we know each in degrees. Like one coin with two different sides, heads and tails, it seems that we can’t know one without also knowing the other. I am trying to show that Las Vegas is a holy place. Just because it is full of Samsara (desire mind) doesn’t mean that it isn’t also full of Nirvana. Las Vegas fully expresses this nonduality.
I realized that Las Vegas had everything I needed by way of subject matter. Everything was happening right in front of me. This self-awareness helped me to overcome all doubt. Why not examine what is close at hand? Las Vegas, my home town, was certainly worthy of exploration. What better place to explore Pop Culture than in this city of neon signage? And, where better to explore oneself than the Mojave Desert?
Your work seems often seems to explore the relationship between technology, art and spirituality. Would you agree? What is it that drives you and where do you draw your inspiration from?
I am a great believer in the historic tradition of diligent artistic craft. Mastering techniques, new technologies, materials and foundational skills remain at the core of my diverse practice. So, it comes as no surprise that I have a deep connection to modernist approaches particularly the Bauhaus interest in utilizing technology in design and fine art. I am constantly experimenting with cutting edge technologies and I have a particular interest in the work of key Bauhaus figures such as the graphic designer Herbert Bayer and as well the painter and photographer László Moholy-Nagy. In fact, it can be said that I share Moholy-Nagy’s commitment to an “interrelatedness of art, life, and technology.”[1] The use of new technologies allows me to not only transform space but to also engage the viewer to keep pace with the ever-changing swirl of popular culture.
As the founder of Smallworks Press, you work with a variety of artists and authors. How does this experience inform your own practice? Any recent projects you are particularly proud of?
Smallworks Press specializes in publishing books on Art and Culture. I have attempted to celebrate certain artists and philosophers who share my interests. These creatives have earned a place in the Smallworks Press catalog. The goals of Smallworks Press can be summed up by the manifesto that I wrote in 2007.
SMALLWORKS MANIFESTO
The goal of Smallworks is to shed a light on the amazing cultural artifacts of an age at the brink of nihility. Smallworks explores the dynamic tension inherent in this world gone mad, while focusing on those dedicated creative geniuses who work on in obscurity despite the lack of fame and attention, for these are the artists who shed light on the world. These are the creative spirits who because they are absorbed in their work, have precious little time to act as careerists. Either they can’t afford to promote themselves or they don’t wish to waste the time on anything but their artistic process. Smallworks will shed a light on these efforts, putting the work on display with all the care and creativity that the artwork itself reveals and deserves.
Why focus on the obscure artists at the edge of society? Sadly, this world often celebrates only the loudest or most privileged of our shallow society. We celebrate the obscure few because they can’t help but do their work. Either they don’t care about recognition or they only have enough skill to apply to the creation of their work with nothing left over for self-promotion.
Not all obscure artists possess the gifts to fit into the niche that we are spelling out in this manifesto. Not all who pursue the arts are equally gifted.
Sadly, not all who work in obscurity, are gifted enough to be celebrated. Not all great artists who have something to say are unknown. We have no prejudice against creating artistic opportunities for successful artists as well, as long as they fit our criteria.
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I was very impressed with the oeuvre of one of my professors at the University of Washington, Frederick N. Anderson (1917-1991). Once I had a little success and thought that I could afford it, I started searching around looking to purchase some of his work. I phoned his former art gallery Foster White in Seattle, Washington. They informed me that there was nothing available and there was no market for his work and I was trashed when I found out that his work was unavailable. It was like this great artist had never lived. It broke my heart. I made up my mind to see that this wouldn’t happen to any of the other mentors that I admired. In 2007 I created Smallworks Press and I have published several books celebrating the work of great but virtually unknown artists and thinkers.
The first book was Nawari Koans, The Wumenguan as interpreted by Robert J. Fitzwater. Jack was an Anthropologist, Archeologist who had a battlefield enlightenment as a young marine in the Korean War. He was a very special influence on me. I felt so good after publishing his book of Zen Koans. This book started it all.
You recently designed a monumental site-specific mural spanning over 2,000 square feet in downtown Las Vegas. What is the story behind it? Walk us through your experience and any particular rewards or challenges you faced along the way.
My approach is always flexible. Each project really tells me what it will require of me. I just have to listen and watch. After making art for so many years, I find that I can change styles to fit the project. I have always felt that an artist’s style is initially formed to hide weaknesses. I like to fight through my limitations and I try to adapt to the goal of the project like a film director would change to accommodate the subject. If it is a comedy, I try and make it funny. If it is a tragedy, I make it sad.
My approach is always flexible. Each project that I take on really tells me what it will require of me. I just have to listen and watch. After making art for so many years, I find that I can change styles to fit the project. (Call Out)
Yes, A Phalanx of Angels Ascending is a project that is very close to my heart. Laura Henkel has been in charge of curating the art that goes on the former Veterans of Foreign Wars building across the street from the Neon Museum in the City’s Cultural Corridor. The first artist that she selected for the building was Aaron Shepard, who painted a fairly controversial mural which alluded to the work of Aubrey Beardsley. When I was asked to do a mural on the building, at first, I was inclined to do a mural using my well-known mandala images from my Shimmering Zen series, but I felt that the symmetrical nature of the images presented a problem, because it would be difficult to execute. When I thought about an image that would resonate with the community, the Blue Angel was a “no brainer.” Alison Chambers, the owner of the building, has turned the former VFW building into an arts incubator. When I mentioned that I wanted to do something that honored the iconic Blue Angel, she was thrilled. The whole community has responded very positively.
I first saw the Blue angel when I was 10 years old.1958 was the year that The Blue Angel Motel was built. As a child, I lived only a short distance away from the Blue Angel Motel.
Besides the obvious intrinsic beauty of the design work of the great Betty Willis, who is also known for her design of the world-famous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, the history and personal memories surrounding the Blue Angel drew me to her. I am not alone. The entire community seems to have connected to this project in a big way.
The Blue Angel stood as a sentinel over my end of town. At 16 feet tall, standing on a ten-foot-tall pedestal on top of the two-story building she dominated the single-story skyline. She soared over the Blue Onion Drive-in Restaurant with car-hops on roller skates serving onion rings and a Cherry-Lemon-Lime-Rickey. Hot rod cars lined up under the Blue Angel. High Schoolers fueled up on sugar drinks preparing for their cruise down Fremont Street, which was lined with neon lights. Cruising down Glitter Gulch, the brightest spot on earth, listening to the Rolling Stones, checking out all of the girls while cruising in a 1963 Corvette convertible was my weekend pass time. The Blue Angel bore witness over my misspent youth.
The Blue Angel is beatific! She has always beamed at all who view her with a beatific smile!
I realized that the community needed to see the Blue Angel again. She was taken down and put on display temporarily at the Neon Museum’s Ne10 warehouse, while the City of Las Vegas decided what to do with her. The Neon Museum wanted to restore her and display her, but the City decided to hold on to her, restore her and put her on a perch near her original site at Five Points, an intersection where Fremont Street, The Boulder Highway, Charleston Boulevard and Eastern Avenue all meet. The whole process took a long time. Meanwhile, the public had been deprived of her presence. That is why I decided to create a mural displaying not just one, but many Blue Angels.
As a young artist, I was deeply inspired by the artwork of the Northern Renaissance. I loved their attention to detail, the angels floating on clouds, and the other-worldly subject matter really inspired me. The Blue Angel seemed to belong to a heavenly environment. It seemed natural to depict her ascension into the heavens. To many, she stood to watch over our daily activities, always smiling, always approving. She seemed so tolerant, blessing our mundane activities. If we got out of line, she could sprinkle us with unicorn dust from her magic wand. Depicting her ascending into the heavens seemed to be an appropriate homage to this inspiring icon of Las Vegas.
I chose Cliff Morris and his assistant Trenton Larson to paint the mural. Cliff is a real pro. He takes direction well and has a lot of talent. Like every project, one runs into obstacles. The heat of the Las Vegas summer was the toughest part. The soaring temperatures took its toll on Cliff, but he fought his way through it and managed to turn out a great effort. It was easy to work with Cliff. His ego never got in the way. Together we did as well as we could to reach our goals, despite the sizzling heat. Cliff executed the mural with only one assistant, Trenton Larson. I look forward to working with Cliff on future projects.
As the designer of the mural, I had a certain goal in mind, to keep the vision as close to my digital montage as possible. I knew that it would be impossible to capture the photorealism of the original artwork, but I wanted to see it executed as close to the original vision as possible. Even though one surrenders a certain amount of control when working with collaborators, a project like this is simply too large to execute alone. I just tried to be honest about what I wanted from the other artists. If I didn’t like something or if I thought something needed more attention, I had to push for perfection, after all, our reputations were on the line. Thank goodness Cliff and Trenton were very amiable, and never seemed to take offense.
Executing a 2,000 square foot mural and executing three sides of building, viewable from different vantage points on Las Vegas Boulevard, takes teamwork. The building was pretty rough. The walls were either concrete brick or plaster roughly applied to brick. It was a very difficult surface to work with. Our budget didn’t include enough money to resurface the exterior, so Cliff and his assistant Trenton Larson had to work under that restraint. Even so, the mural seemed to take on a life of its own. Alison Chambers created a successful Kickstarter fundraiser. Thanks to generous donations from William H. Bigelow III, Kris Morris, Dunn-Edwards Paint, Natalie Davison, Ryan Breeden, The Neon Museum, and all the other contributors.
I want the viewer to be inspired by the angels ascending into the heavens. I want them to feel like they could join in and take flight also. Las Vegas has a rich visual history, one that appeals to the denizens of Pop Culture. Betty Willis seemed to capture the spirit of Las Vegas. Las Vegas isn’t Disneyland. It has a playful nature, but it isn’t insipid. As the official mantra of 90’s Las Vegas used to proclaim, “Las Vegas, the place to play.” And, we don’t mean tiddlywinks!
What are your currently working on? Any upcoming projects that we should look out for?
Currently I am creating another large mural (5,800) square feet at The Ukulele Lounge at 620 Las Vegas Boulevard North in the Cultural Corridor directly across the street from my mural at 705 Las Vegas Boulevard North. Painting starts on April 8, 2020. The Cultural Corridor has several destinations including The Neon Museum, Las Vegas Natural History Museum, Cashman Field, where the Las Vegas Lights soccer team plays. The mural project should be finished by the end of April. The design pays tribute to two icons of the early Las Vegas Strip. On the North facing wall we will celebrate the Stardust Hotel which was imploded on March 13, 2007.
Facing the street is a tribute to the Stardust Hotel’s Aku Aku Polynesian restaurant and Tiki Bar. Two large Moai carved out of lava rock stood there on the Strip for many years. The front mural, has burning palm trees that stand like tiki torches illuminating the large Aku Aku heads, 6 of them in all.
Facing the South side is a tribute to the Dunes Hotel and Casino which was imploded in 1993 to make way for the Mirage Hotel. The giant Dunes Sultan, or Dunes Genie, all six of them are portrayed on the south side of the building, greeting visitors to the Cultural Corridor. The project is named, From the Land Beyond Beyond, From a World Past Hope and Fear, I Bid You Genie Now Appear. – Sokurah the Magician: from The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad.
This is a very exciting project that I hope will complement the A Phalanx of Angels Ascending mural directly across the street.
