jim warren omul si opera
TRANSCRIPT
• Jim Warren was born in Nov 24, 1949 in Long Beach, CA to Don and Betty Warren. He is one of the most creative and prolific artists of our time.
• If you are not familiar with his name, you have undoubtedly seen his work. His fine art paintings and personalized portraitures have been commissioned by a clientele list that includes world-famous celebrities and prominent business leaders, and his collaborations with marine life artist, Wyland, are widely acclaimed. His paintings have been seen around the world on billboards, large outdoor murals, set props for TV shows, and Fine Art Galleries coast to coast now carry his works.
• Jim has also illustrated over 200 book covers for major New York publishers, including titles from authors such as Arthur C. Clark, Clive Barker and Robin Cook. He has created collectible movie posters and magazine covers, numerous album and CD covers including the Grammy award-winning cover for Bob Seger's album, "Against The Wind."
• Born and raised in Long Beach, California, at age seven Jim knew he wanted to be a painter. However it would be several years before a pivotal event helped shape the developing, self-taught artist's career: the day he picked up an issue of "Life Magazine" and discovered Salvador Dali.
Looking at Dali's paintings in Life, Jim realized his own art could be anything he wanted it to be, and, while influenced by Dali, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, Rembrandt, Magritte, Monet, Peter Max and others, he set out to further develop his own unique style of painting.
In 1986, Jim was commissioned to create a painting for another gifted individual, world-renowned recording artist, Prince. Jim was given very limited information on which to base the painting other than a one-page sheet containing 13 instructions such as, "a fat man hugging a tiger," "two men with hair shorter on one side, playing the tambourine." Jim was instructed, "use your imagination," which, of course, he did. Upon completion of the painting he was told that Prince loved it.
Currently, Jim focuses primarily on his fine art paintings. Yet in spite of the strong, ongoing demand for these works, he has managed to find time to create two books: "The Art of Jim Warren," and "Jim Warren, Painted Worlds." Both contain clear and colorful representations of his works, many of which combine, as Jim has stated, "the effect of the real mixed with a touch of the unreal, to make you feel as though you're actually seeing something that in reality couldn't possibly be. Although Mother Nature is my favorite art director, I do take artistic license to create environments of my own."
When questioned by an acquaintance recently concerning what aspect of his work gave him the most pleasure, Jim replied, "the letters and emails I get from people around the world who say they have been touched in some way by my paintings. The fact that my art can create an effect like that for some people, and act as a positive influence in their lives, means a great deal to me."
Such is the Art of Jim Warren.
Source: jimwarren.com
Making Friends
One of my trademarks is people ripping
through the back of the
canvas, symbolizing the breaking into another world, or out of some place that they are. Here we have the little girl entering the
land of Tinkerbell and
making friends with the little star
herself.
Awkward Age Anyone who has children
knows exactly what I mean by this painting.
They can be so cute and funny
at times but man, can they
do the darnedest things.
Dolphin Encounters Someone once wrote a song with lyrics that
said "It's like living in a Jim Warren
painting!..." I thought how fun that would be to actually be able to enter and interrelate
with a painting. Children with their
vivid and free imaginations seem to
have that ability!
Welcome to Hawaii Going to
Hawaii is like entering a
dream. A very vivid and beautiful dream.
Waiting for the Rain
The idea for this painting came to
me during a drought in
California in the late 80s. We
were all waiting for Mother
Nature to do her job.
Add a Little Color
Although this painting is
painted for the cover of the
Jan/Feb 2003 issue of Tampa
Bay Magazine, it is actually a portrait of Margaret
Burnside who is the co-editor of that magazine.
The idea here is that sometimes we must take
things into our own hands and make life a little
better and brighter.
Fearless Faeries Many of my
paintings include two subjects
together. Often these subjects are in big contrast to
each other such as with this painting;
the big and ferocious next to the very soft &
dainty. Notice in this painting these opposites are in a
peaceful co-existence with
each other ...unlike some of the
opposites we find in the real world with religions,
races and sexes.
If Only You
Believe I couldn't imagine
any bigger childhood
fantasy than to
have Peter Pan, Snow White and Tinkerbell come into our world and show us a little magic.
Snow White's Romance
Snow White is the one Disney
cartoon that I felt could really
work as an adult theme. Here I
have the Romantic Day theme, which I have used in many of my
paintings, for Snow White and her Prince, and of course her
little friends to take a romantic stroll through...
Circle of Friends Although I'm not a little girl, or even a
big girl for that matter, as an artist I feel it is important to try to see things as others would see
them. I would imagine any little
girl's fantasies would include being a mermaid and
swimming with the sea's best friends, the Dolphins! ...Actually
, I could imagine doing that myself.all
of which to be honest, mean
nothing particularly.
The Discovery People have often
asked me if the ideas for my paintings come to me in my dreams,
which I let them know that no they never
have, until now that is. This is the very first
painting that I ever did that I dreamt, woke up
with it fresh on my mind, thought it over for a moment and said "Hey, That's actually an interesting idea. I
am going to paint that" And per my dream, I actually ripped a hole
into the canvas. (Limited editions of
this painting will also have an actual rip)
What a Wonderful World
I have been through many artistic fazes during my
career, from horror/sci-fi book covers, fantasy,
surrealism, paintings with environmental messages etc. For this painting I simply wanted to paint what I felt would be a
wonderful world; inspired by a favorite old song of
mine by Louis Armstrong. Some might look at this
and say I'm getting old & soft... I like to think it's
more proof of my versatility. Just wait and
see what's next!
Seven Horses As a kid, I always enjoyed those drawings in activity books with the faces and animals hidden in it. But they were often too easy,
even for your average half-witted 10 year old such as
myself. So I painted "Seven Horses", where each horse is a little harder than the
next to find, until the seventh, which is almost impossible unless you're
Einstein, who is not alive. So if you find six, here is a hint for the seventh: "Even if you can't find him, there
is proof that he exists". Mouse over the picture to
find the horses.
Seven Dolphins This is the
second in my series of hidden
animals and marine life.
Like life itself, some of it is
easy, and some is a little more challenging.Go
od luck and stay tuned for the next ones.
Mouse over the image to find the dolphins.
Seven Hearts
This is the third in my
series of hidden objects, animals
and marine life. Like
LOVE itself, it is
elusive and hard to
locate in the real world. Mouse
over the image to find the hearts.
Seven Eagles
Romantic Day The ideas for my paintings often
start with a simple subject. In this case, romance. From there the
imagery falls right into place, first in my mind, then on paper, and last on
canvas as a completed painting.
Heaven on Earth (Love in
Paradise)Romance is a
popular theme in my paintings and has been for many years. Stress free
environments such as those on
tropical islands have also been a favorite subject
matter for me and when the two are combined, I feel it is the closest thing there is to Heaven
on Earth.
Tropical romanceRomance is just a
state of mind, I feel, but it is so much
easier to get in that state when relaxing
and playing in a tropical
environment( In this painting I have
two sets of feet prints coming from different directions
and meeting, drawing a heart in the sand with the
stick, and walking off together down the beach. It was just a coincidence that I painted this two days before Valentine's Day
2008)
Love hawaiian stile
Life takes on a whole new
meaning while in a tropical
environment during a volcanic eruption. I was
lucky enough to be in Hawaii during one and with my camera as usual.
LoveWhen I try to sum up the
best of what this world has
to offer, in only one
simple word, LOVE is what
comes to mind.One of my favorite bands from the 60s was
named LOVE, and I was intrigued
recently by the simple
title LOVE for the new Las
Vegas Cirque Du Soleil
based on the Beatles music.
The Waiting Sometimes
people spend their whole life waiting for their ship to come in, waiting so much that they miss the
boat.
Romantic reflexion
The idea for this painting was
conceived while driving around in
my car (Yes I think and drive)If
you notice, the reflections of the
hearts make up the whole shape of the heart, representing
the fact that it takes two people in love to reflect
off each other before there can be
true romance.
Forever loveThis is one of my
first paintings that I did after moving to
Florida from California in 1994. The Spoonbill birds
are actually one bird that I shot three
times as it was flying away from
me trying to take a picture. He
probably thought I was some dumb
Californian tourist who never saw a
pink bird with big wings before,
which is pretty much true. The hidden lovers
embracing in the rocks is why it is titled "Forever
Love"
Romantic Seas What I feel about my paintings are that they are like movies, except
that I capture the whole story in one
still scene. The good thing about
that is that the viewer is free to
interpret the story as they like, and as it relates to them
personally. That is what art is all
about.
Ship of romanceWhat I feel about my paintings are that they are like movies, except
that I capture the whole story in one still scene. The good thing
about that is that the viewer is free to interpret the story as they like, and as it
relates to them personally. That is what art is all
about.
Together Again Since the
beginning I have used romance as a common theme in
my paintings. I feel romance is mysterious and
spiritual. I strive to give life to those
beliefs in my artwork.
Nature's Embrace Here we have the
woman, symbolized by the soft and flowing ocean waves, and the
man, symbolized by the strong and unshaken rock.
Love is as natural as nature itself.
The Last Embrace
Like the rough seas, romance is sometimes hard to hold on to, but I didn't
intend for this to be a tragic
love story in the tradition of
Shakespeare. I feel that the challenges involved in romance are
what makes true love so special when found.
Splash of Life Some believe that God created life and others
believe it simply evolved. I think arguing over it is a waste of time. It seems to me that both theories
could possibly be true. If God created life, then what did he create it from? Well, that is
actually deeper then I intended this painting to be. I just took two simple
images; seagulls, and ocean spray, and
combined them together, which is my trademark
style.
Romantic Sunset I was driving
down by the beach one day in Florida when I spotted a beautiful sunset, and two lovers gazing up at it.
The scene was so perfect that I took out my camera,
shot it and painted it pretty much as it was, except for the ocean wave that I felt would be the topping on the
cake.