"You Are the Gates of the Body, and You Are the Gates of the Soul" Acrylic on canvas, 52 x 67 x 1 inches Exhibited: TAG Gallery, Los Angeles – The Lazarus Excellence in Watercolor Award Exhibition, 2022 In this commanding large-format painting, Michael James offers a deeply intimate yet enigmatic portrait of repose, rendered through his hallmark style of Chromatic Stylized Realism with nuanced impressionistic flourishes. The composition places the viewer parallel to a reclining woman, her form stretched diagonally across the canvas. We see only the bridge of her nose, her closed or averted eyes obscured, her head cradled by an outstretched right arm, while her left hand rests just below her chin. The use of forced perspective subtly distorts scale and depth, pulling the viewer physically into her space, yet emotionally holding them at a contemplative distance. Painted in a luminous palette of Naples yellow, ultramarine blue, cadmium red, burnt orange, and anchored with assertive black contours, the work pulses with psychological tension and painterly warmth. The chromatic structure is intentional and expressive, evoking inner life through saturated abstraction, while the subject remains largely unknown, present but private. "You Are the Gates of the Body, and You Are the Gates of the Soul" is a meditation on boundaries both corporeal and spiritual, an ode to the unseen interior world. This piece stands as a bold example of James’s evolving mastery of light, composition, and emotion, and holds a pivotal place within his recent body of work.

Name Of Artist (So You Are Searchable!)

Michael James

Exact Dimensions

52" x 67" x 1"

Year Created

2022

Provide details about the signature

Original, Hand signed

Materials

Acrylic and watercolors on canvas.