Comments About Jim Collier's Paintings

James Collier's eye is both lens and filter.  He grasps both the large and the small, the essential shape and the minute inflection of light, color, and texture.  His power to see is what the American poetess Marianne Moore calls "piercing glances into the life of things."  This intensity of vision is buttressed by a deep historical literacy.  A passage of the (painting)  Ca d' Oro, summarizes the disciplined luxury of the Venetian Gothic; the towering coffers and oculus of the Pantheon proclaims Hadrian's expansive sense of empire and empyrean; a cluster of columns, capitals, and lintels at Paestum is a choral celebration of Greek rationality; and the game of concave and convex of  San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane mirrors the theatrical virtuosity of Baroque Rome.  Collier's trenchant canvases form a graphic "travelogue" of the eye and mind.

Marvin Eisenberg,
Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, The University of Michigan
writing on solo exhibition "Eccentric Views of Italian Architecture"
at the Italian Cultural Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

 

 

Interview in EXPATICA July 8, 2003:

Portraits, Elephants and Boat Crashes

Jim Collier tells Elise Krentzel how he struck out on his own as a portrait artist upon returning to the Netherlands as a trailing spouse.

Artist Jim Collier says his unique background as an art historian steeped in the Dutch school of painting drew him back to the Netherlands in 1990. "This was my second time around as I lived in The Hague and Friesland as an exchange student,"" Jim explains.

Having obtained a PhD from the University of Michigan in art history, Jim worked as a university professor before deciding to take a break in 1987. He joined his wife in New York and opted to improve his skills at the National Academy of Design.

But his teenage memories of the Netherlands remained vivid and years later, Jim's home away from home in a grand old mansion (herenhuis) on one of Amsterdam’s city centre canals (grachten) became the base for his career as an artist.

Born in 1943, Jim arrived in Amsterdam as a trailing male spouse to his career wife who had been transferred by the ABN-Amro bank from the Big Apple. The US expat now works as an artist, describing himself as a self-taught painter and his work reflects a subjective view based on empirical observation. "I consider myself to be a realist artist," he says.

He doesn’t do pure landscapes, although he has a fair share of cityscapes or pieces of sculptures and parts of famous buildings, such as the leaning tower of Pisa. One might even find a floating elephant here and there. Examples of Jim's artwork can be found on his website www.jimcollier.nl.

"I find landscapes boring and that is why I live in a city.Maybe it is because as a kid I was forced to go camping and fishing and be outdoors all the time since I came from Washington State," he says. "I’ll do sailing ships and cities, yet portraits and nudes are my biggest challenge." He is quick to add that repetition such as painting fingers "gets his goat" because he believes painting all ten of them is monotonous. But surprisingly, in his large, yet packed northern-lit studio, the people featured in his works on display are all replete with 10 digits.

"I like using the computer to manipulate angles, coloration or backgrounds. It is a hobby,"Jim says unapologetically and states flatly: "Artists use whatever tools they have." He’ll make 100 pictures of a person if he’s been commissioned to do a portrait. He then blows up the composite image on a computer print out and makes a rendition of a rendition.

These days Jim is fixed on weird subjects such as racing boat crashes. He painted a series of non-photographic images and some people in Louisiana received word (and sight via his website) and ordered eight paintings.He now expresses a desire to do whales and whalers.

His love of foreign lands and adventure fits snugly into his concept of new subject matter, giving him and Carole Anne (his wife and business manager) good excuses to regularly travel.

When asked whether his works sell well with the Dutch, Jim says the Netherlands "is not a good sales place as most of my work is sold outside the country. The Dutch like abstract art and don’t like spending money." But he is pleased he doesn't have to depend on selling art to live. He works exclusively on a commission basis and clients come to him by word of mouth.

Despite their thrifty ways, Jim finds living among the Dutch to be quite convenient and amiable because everyone speaks English. He enjoys the proximity to everywhere else in Europe and for the moment, he would rather be in Europe than the US.

What a fabulous site!!! Your works are phenomenal.
I especially liked the 3 Arches, Amsterdam, Twelve Buildings, and Two Bridges.
Your Night Life in Amsterdam and Evening at Our House
clearly depict the dream come true life you and CA have there.

It appears so enchanting.

Going to your new site, the portraits are wonderful. In your self portrait,
you haven't changed. The regalness, innocence and solitude of Fenna touched me,
as well as the wisdom (maybe sadness) and take charge of Jacqueline
(although I think she is a woman who has a great sense of humor).

As always, your buildings continue to awe me. I want to reach out and touch
the smoothness of the marble, the crevices in the columns, and stand on the balcony
of the cathedral in Florence. Italy has continued to elude me but maybe someday
I will get to touch it in the flesh. For now, I will visually let your paintings take me there.

I will watch for future sites.

Love Sharon

 

Although Jim Collier grew up in the Pacific Northwest (USA) during the 20th century, his art work has powers that transcend place and time. Jim's paintings, perfect in detail, rich in impact, and significant in subject matter, now hang in homes, businesses and museums across the world. Jim lives with his wife Carole Anne in Amsterdam. His friends find this fitting since his artistic style is a modern echo of the Dutch Masters.

Jim studies meticulously for each painting. Many subjects are painted several times. So, if you find something you like which has already sold, inquire anyway. Jim may have painted another version. He is quite willing to approach any of his subjects anew. Perfection has many forms.

Steve Means