Spotlight On James Mylne

www.gallery90.co.uk

From the roof of the world in the Himalayas, beyond the clouds, the earth below seems a furtive warren of ideas and peoples, fretful and ambitious, and a source of wonder. To make sense of it Buddhist monks in Tibet developed an all-encompassing, pacific view of cultures, races, and their affairs and beliefs.

It’s a view that James Mylne shares, and one that has taken him to his eclectic juxtapositions of Buddhism and the immediacy of urban street art, combinations of graffiti-led tags and supine beauty, executed with exquisite and infinite care, as the photo-realist artists of Persia once used a single horse hair for their portraits.

Mylne uses a biro. He uses a regular, run-of-the-mill Bic Biro Medium - none compare to the 30p Bic Biro. It must be medium weight, though. He started, like most kids, in the classroom, doodling on his exercise books, and then discovered shading. It was a cathartic moment. What can happen, which is hard to predict or control, is that when working on a light area of shading the ballpoint will release a small build-up of ink? Once the only solution he had was to use a scalpel and surgically scratch the surface of the paper off, taking the ink with it. "You could see it, but it was preferable to an ink splodge", explains James.
 
“Obviously when it comes to making mistakes, you're screwed with a biro because you can't rub out or paint over, but that’s the challenge. It forces intense concentration that after a time can leave me in my own world, on the borders of meditation. It's a special place to be. My head is as close to the paper as possible. My long vision is getting worse (starting to worry about my eyesight) and I have a serious case of RSS (repetitive stress syndrome) in my right arm. I think I'll probably get arthritis in my right hand and wrist in my thirties. Sucks.”

Mylne’s works might seem, in part, to have the inexpressible technique of the artist, the idiot-savant, and drawing from depths impenetrable to understanding. But they are not. They have a clear and undeniably beautiful logic.

James Mylne studied at the Camberwell College of Arts, London, completing his MA in 2006. In 2007 James set up the only web site that serves as an information resource for people interested in ballpoint art. In 2008 he had his first major solo exhibition at The Coningsby Gallery in London’s West End, the first exhibition of its kind in the UK, featuring detailed works created entirely in ballpoint. He was asked by The Black Rat Press (London) in August 2008 to add one of his drawings to their Big Issue charity show, which raised £50,000 for London’s homeless. In 2009 Recently James had a 2 week solo show at Maverik Showroom in London’s trendy Shoreditch with future group shows planned for the UK & Tokyo. James lives and works in London.