In James Gortner’s work, painting
becomes a site of transformation. Here, past lives of materials, images,
and intentions converge. His surfaces are sculptural and layered,
composed of reconstructed artist's paintings and reclaimed paint with
history embedded in their very texture. Drawing from spiritual practice,
dream logic, and art historical tradition, he forges visual languages
that reflect the chaos, hope, and interconnection of the present moment.
In James Gortner’s work, painting
becomes a site of transformation. Here, past lives of materials, images,
and intentions converge. His surfaces are sculptural and layered,
composed of reconstructed artist's paintings and reclaimed paint with
history embedded in their very texture. Drawing from spiritual practice,
dream logic, and art historical tradition, he forges visual languages
that reflect the chaos, hope, and interconnection of the present moment.
Gortner studied at The Art Students League of New York and received
his MFA from Columbia University. His work has been exhibited at the
Fisher Landau Center for the Arts (New York), Mana Contemporary (New
Jersey), San Bernardino County Museum (California), the Museum of
Contemporary Art MAC (Chile), and the RW Norton Art Museum (Louisiana).
His work has been featured in print in New American Paintings, New
American Art Collector Magazine, Men’s Journal, Archatectural Digest,
and The Berliner, among other publications. His art is in numerous
private collections, including President Jiang Zemin of China and
actress Reese Witherspoon. James Gortner lives and works in the West
Village of New York City.
Abstract Constructs
This practice is rooted in transformation. I work with recycled and previously abandoned paintings and paint, breaking them down and rebuilding them into new works that carry the physical memory of prior gestures while forming entirely new images. These paintings are not revisions or restorations; they are acts of conversion, where past intent is subsumed into a new structure.
Formally, the work moves between abstraction and image, process and narrative. Layers of paint are excavated, compressed, and reconfigured, creating surfaces that feel geological, fractured, and possibly in motion. What appears resolved often contains visible evidence of rupture and repair. I’m interested in how accumulation and erasure coexist, and how meaning can emerge from material instability rather than polish or finality.
Conceptually, the work engages questions of value, authorship, and sustainability. By repurposing existing paintings, I collapse distinctions between finished and unfinished, precious and discarded. The studio becomes a site of both destruction and preservation, where time is folded rather than erased. This process mirrors larger cultural cycles of consumption, abandonment, and reuse, but resists didactic conclusions in favor of ambiguity and material intelligence.
JAMES GORTNER
No Name, No Place, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on panel, 83 in x 70 in
(Private Collection)
JAMES GORTNER
No Name, No Place, B Side, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on linen, 83 in x 70 in
(Private Collection)JAMES GORTNER
Orange, Physics, And Other Colors, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on panel, 41 in x 35 in
(Private Collection)JAMES GORTNER
Orange, Physics, And Other Grey Areas, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on linen, 41 in x 35 in
(Available)
JAMES GORTNER
Study For An Abstract Construct, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on linen, 14 in x 12 in
(Available)
JAMES GORTNER
Study For An Abstract Construct, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on linen, 14 in x 12 in
(Available)JAMES GORTNER
Study For An Abstract Construct, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on linen, 14 in x 12 in
(Available)JAMES GORTNER
Study For An Abstract Construct, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on panel, 14 in x 12 in
(Available)JAMES GORTNER
Study For An Abstract Construct, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on panel, 14 in x 12 in
(Available)JAMES GORTNER
Study For An Abstract Construct, (no date)
Reclaimed oil, acrylic, and transformed found paintings on panel, 14 in x 12 in
(Available)
To inquire about curating an exhibition of new works in this series at your museum or gallery, please contact the artist.