James Birkin

Born in the UK in 1991, James studied for a Fine Art BA and a Painting MA at Coventry University.

James’ paintings focus on overlooked and unappreciated fragments of the British landscape that sit in states of disrepair and neglect, an all too familiar site in redeveloping post-industrial cities in the Midlands and the North. The buildings stand as monuments to a bygone era and exist in a state of limbo where their fate is still waiting to be decided. The buildings are primarily sites of leisure, cinemas and pubs – sites that were once an integral part of the local community that gradually disintegrate as the world around them changes and they fall into obscurity and redundancy.

More recently, James has expanded this approach and has been utilising imagery from two recent trips to the US, developing paintings based on American urban landscape.