Artist Anthony James’s first Dubai exhibition merges mathematics and mysticism

The British-American is the only living artist to have his work displayed on all seven continents

Artist Anthony James at his first exhibition in Dubai, Light, showing at Opera Gallery in DIFC. All photos: Antonie Robertson / The National

The British-American is the only living artist to have his work on display in all seven continents. Pictured here is a work from his Rain Painting series

60" Great Rhombicosidodecahedron (Champagne)

24" Cube (Solar Black)

24" Tetrahedron (Jet black)

34" New Wall Portal (Solar Black)

24" Icosahedron (Bronze)

24" Icosahedron (Bronze)

60 x 30" Vertical Wall Portal (Solar Black)

24" Cube (Solar Black), from the artist's Rain Painting series

British-American artist Anthony James’s first solo exhibition in the UAE is a beautifully curated experience of wonder and geometry.

Opening on Wednesday at Opera Gallery in DIFC, the show, titled Light, features standalone sculptures, alongside mural pieces and paintings. They are all connected to James’s study of geometry and mathematics, fused with a greater sense of the spiritual world.

With his work recently featured in the Netflix film, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, James’s work also feels aesthetically connected to the visual language of Dubai. The sleek attention to detail, the considered way light and geometry co-exist and the rooted idea of something ancient reimagined through a futuristic sensibility is an apt and coincidental extension of the city's architectural ethos.

“I love Dubai; I liked it from the moment I landed," James tells The National.

"I can just pick up on the ambience and vibe of the place. I just fell in love. I think my work complements the architecture of Dubai and vice versa."

The 18 sculptural works are a mesmerising feat of construction and an entrancing play on reflection and geometry. The collection of circular and geometric sculptures, made of mirrors carefully placed within steel frames, radiate light and create endless reflections and patterns.

Placed on top of plinths or mounted walls, the pieces feel like an homage to the universal language of mathematics; imbuing the space with a serene, sci-fi aura. Individually and collectively, they challenge viewers' perception of space, creating an imaginary futuristic temple-like space.

“My aim within my art practice is to visually demonstrate something that is an impossible concept,” James says.

“Whether it's the infinity of the cosmos, in a more scientific way or expressing the divinity inside oneself. The very big to the very small.”

James attempts to connect the individual to something more infinite and celestial through his work. It’s a concept that has been explored through the works of abstract expressionists such as Barnett Newman or Mark Rothko. But instead of paint on canvas, James uses geometry and light.

Artist Anthony James at his first exhibition in the region, Light, at Opera Gallery in DIFC. Antonie Robertson / The National

Fusing science and spirituality is a difficult concept to execute, but one that James believes he balances through mastery of his chosen materials. He hopes the works seem "natural" and "effortless, like they just appeared."

With this in mind, James doesn’t usually draw to explore and plan his more precise concepts. As shapes take form in his head, the artist creates small 3D models.

“I don't want too many stages between the concept and the actual piece. Drawings can muddy up the idea,” he says.

“I'll just make something in wood or in a simple metal form, but not for show, just for myself and then if I see the art in it, I replicate it to as near perfect as I can.”

From there, James and his team use various technologies — such as computers, laser cutters, and even 3D printing their own tools — to bring the pieces to life.

“I want them to be simple," he says. "So it doesn't matter if you're a four-year-old, an 80-year-old professor at a university or director of a museum, you're still going to get something out of these works.”

The universal quality of James’s craft is perhaps why he is the only living artist with sculptures on display in all seven continents, including Antarctica.

Earlier this year, James installed one of his sphere-like sculptures in British tour operator White Desert’s new base camp Echo, in Antarctica.

“It's the craziest thing, you just see endless ice,” James says.

“It’s 24 hours of the brightest sunshine you've ever seen. You have to wear your sunglasses, because your eyes burn, your skin burns. There’s a perfectly blue sky, perfectly white ice with some silhouettes of mountains. And you can literally feel the rigour of the cosmos or the serenity of infinity. It’s a very bizarre sensation.”

The sister of the piece in Antarctica, an identical sphere-like sculpture, is part of James's solo exhibition in Dubai.

James's work also recently featured in the Netflix hit Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, starring Daniel Craig. Set designer to the film Rick Heinrichs, created the recognisable glass dome of the mansion in the movie, inspired by James’s work.

“After they designed the dome, he and his team approached me for one of my sculptures that inspired them,” James says.

“They wanted it for the centre of the Glass Onion house. I agreed to it and the piece was like a character in the movie.”

Anthony James's DIFC exhibition features a collection of circular and geometric sculptures, made of mirrors carefully placed within steel frames. Antonie Robertson / The National

James's exhibition also features two series of paintings, including large pieces where the experiential artist used assault rifles as a mark-making tool — firing bullets at sheets of aluminium, framed by stainless steel.

“It's nice to be lucid in my art practice because my other work is so precise,” he says.

“You start off by shooting and making the painting around your initial gesture. You build a gesture upon a gesture to get something that resembles a painting. It’s meant to resemble something like the cosmos and the stars.”

His other series, Rain Painting, comprises a collection of photorealistic works, painted on large circular aluminium panels. Like James's sculptures, the monumental pieces of varying colours echo ideas of infinity and the cosmos, but through a different perspective and medium.

“Whatever the medium I use, it will always carry my signature on it,” he says.

“I just think what is the best way I can convey an idea to its essence? What is the best material use that I can use? Because I want to communicate my message in the cleanest, most direct way.”

Anthony James’s exhibition, Light, is on show at Opera Gallery, DIFC until March 24