Upcoming Exhibit Opening Reception:
October 3, 2008 6pm-9pm

Location:
Gardner Community Center
520 W. Virginia Street
San Jose 95125

Exhibit Dates: 10/3/08 - 10/31/08

Gallery Hours: 9am-7pm M-F

Q&A with the Artist
Q: How would you describe your exhibit Kaleidescopic Doo-Wop?

James: Kaleidescopic Doo-Wop is a collection of paintings, drawings, abstract photography, and poetry. Each piece is continually shifting from one set of relations to another. In my paintings I use thick rhythmic brushstrokes bending the hues till they harmonize. Each photography piece though abstract is not necessarily meant to be of "high concept." It's a glimpse of reality captured from a lens that has no opinion on what is and isn't. Each piece intermingles to influence your imagination.

Q: What is your favorite medium and why? What is your range of mediums?

James: My favorite medium is music (check out http://www.myspace.com/rocknrolldisaster). I've been writing songs since I was fifteen. This brings me the greatest satisfaction. But I decided a long time ago that I will not be limited to that. In regards to my range of mediums, I really don't feel comfortable answering that question.

Q: Where have you studied art? Where have you exhibited work?

James: I've never actually studied art, I just do it. And I do it wherever in whatever way I can.

Q: What is your favorite work? And what is your favorite response from others to your work?

James: Prophelactic InUtero. Everyone always has something to say about it.

Spotlight on James Persinger: Musician, Photographer, Writer and Graphic Designer By: Joanne Hobbs

James Persinger has always been drawn to music, writing and photography from as far back as he can remember. He got his first camera for Christmas when he was In third grade.  It was one of those really inexpensive ones, but it was enough. He spent hours wandering around the trailer park taking pictures of whatever caught his eye—hubcaps and soda cans, banana peels and pieces of carpet.

Something about these random compositions really got him excited and he remembers thinking, “Man, I really got some great stuff!” Those roles of film piled up until he could save up the money to get them developed.  When he finally did, he was disappointed.  Where were the scenes that had captivated him so much, he wondered. And then his parents saw the pictures and he remembers his dad shaking his head bemused, asking, “Why are there fifteen pictures of hubcaps?”  And so his youthful ambitions in photography were severely stunted.  But in time he recovered and his keen interest in shootIng photos emerged once again, strong and vital and virtually untouched by parental misgivings.  He still finds himself taking pictures of banana peels and hubcaps. 

When he was eight, he got into the Beatles. In second grade when the other kids were saying they wanted to be teachers and firefighters when they grew up, James proclaimed that he was gonna be a rockstar. He practiced performing in the trailer park on the huge concrete slabs that were left when a trailer had moved. These slabs of concrete became his stage on dark mornings whIle he waited for the school bus.  Of course, he thought no one was watchIng him, but as he thinks back on that time today, he is sure that someone in the park was quite amused by a little blonde haired eIght year old boy with holes in his jeans and a ripped jacket jumping around singing “I want to hold your hand”.

He had been askIng for a guitar for years before he received one when
he was in fourth grade. “I was so stoked,” he recalls. But somehow he
expected his passion for this instrument to translate into skill, magically. He
remembers feeling this huge disappointment when he realized he couldn’t play it. Also the guitar was too heavy to hold for long and the strings were strung
too hIgh off the fret board for his young hands. So after a bout wIth a couple
of ImpatIent guItar Instructors and gettIng burned out on spinning classic
rock records while pretending to play, he laid the guitar to rest in the
closet. And there it stayed until he was twelve. A frIend of his who knew
how to play inspired him to pIck it up agaIn. He taught James how to play
the intro to "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC. That was the true beginning. He
hasn’t put the guitar down sInce. And playing it led into his writing. He
discovered that he had a natural knack for writing poetry that he picked up
from his mother. He was fourteen when he started laying down songs on a
little hand me down tape recorder.

Aside from the Beatles his greatest influence was Nirvana.  “The lyrics and the music  represented everything I’ve been influenced by and felt at that point and the first time I heard the song ‘In Bloom’, I got chills.  I had no idea what he was singing but it spoke to me very deeply in so many ways. It is kind of ironic now that I know what  he's saying in the chorus.”

James’ songs always start out as music first. Chord progressions lead into something that eventually catches his interest.  His interest has to be kindled before he can move forward and come up with a melody and hook and then the lyrics.  He likens the process to the way he has always approached painting. The musIc Is the broad strokes of color across the canvas and the words are the details.  Interestingly, he never writes down the chords though or notes, just the lyrics. He remembers the music through the lyrics. 

James is naturally introverted and his music emerged from a deep place inside him, so playing in front of people has always been a challenge. He used to play open mic nights here and there, and when he was younger he would play in front of his church youth group. One night there was a parent open house at the church and he was invited to play a song. He asked the youth mInIster If he would play drums like the Ramones and he broke out with his punk rock version of “This little light of mine.”

“I thought it was amazing but the conservative church congregation weren’t feeling it,” he remembers with a laugh.

But over the last couple years and especially since playing the Heart of Chaos events, James has really began to overcome his shyness. Studying graphic design has also helped alot by allowing him to disconnect himself from his creations and benefit from constructive criticism.

“I treat music as my primary medium for artist expression. And for me art should provoke something—some feeling, some thought, some memory, some emotion—so if it provokes you to sneeze, it’s beautiful. That is what I try to do with all my creative endeavors.  I want to venture into new territories, I want to release myself from things I fear, and I want to make the world a more interesting place.”