James Siena

Conversation with Manifold

2017

American artist James Siena is celebrated for his inimitable process of creating intricate abstractions, driven by a practice of self-imposed rules termed visual algorithms. 

Siena preemptively determines his marks and actions and repeats them procedurally as his works result in intensely concentrated, vibrantly colored, freehand compositions. His oeuvre often references diagrams, complex puzzles, labyrinths, and mapping, resulting in inward meditations that actively engage traditions of pattern and mark-making in an ongoing exploration of scale, materiality, and interaction of color. 

Maneuvering across a diverse range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing, lithography, etching and woodcuts, Siena’s work has placed him firmly within the canon of contemporary American art. For more than four decades, Siena’s rule-based linear abstractions have been strongly associated with the machine / human interface. 

“The way the paintings act as machines,” the artist has pointed out, “is you have to find your way into them and find your way out of them.”

Born in Oceanside, California, in 1957, Siena lives and works in New York, NY, and Otis, MA.

Find original James Siena art on 1stDibs.

(Biography provided by Miles McEnery Gallery)