His Lowcountry landscapes are featured at Peter Anthony Fine Art beginning March 11
After more than a decade wielding the gavel at Sotheby’s auction houses in London and New York, abstract artist James Durkin has returned to his first love: painting.
He and his wife, Hanna, who graduated from College of Charleston, moved to the Lowcountry from New York City in October 2020, expecting to stay for six months during COVID. With him, Durkin brought a rare perspective shaped by his art history studies at the University of Nottingham, training at London’s Royal Drawing School, and years of immersion in the high-stakes art market.
Six years later, his paintings, with their bold brushwork and layered textures, invite viewers to experience places as a feeling rather than a fixed geographical point, offering a fitting reflection of an artist who has moved between multiple worlds. We talked with Durkin as he prepares for his first solo show in Charleston this month at Peter Anthony Fine Art to learn about his creative process and why the Holy City’s landscapes make fantastic subjects.
Becoming an Artist: My mother is an artist, and the apple didn’t fall far from the tree with me. It was pretty early when I started to get singled out for drawing abilities and that continued throughout my childhood before receiving an art scholarship at 13. Although I studied art history at university, I produced and exhibited throughout. Despite taking somewhat of a hiatus in my 30s, I’ve always considered myself an artist.
His Medium: I started working in oils around 13, and it’s been trial and error ever since. The good thing is that oils allow you to make mistakes; they’re equally challenging and forgiving—like most good relationships.
Going Once: I was at Sotheby’s for 14 years, first working across the European salesrooms before moving to New York City and becoming an auctioneer. I always knew I wanted to be in the art world, and Sotheby’s gave me an incredible vantage point into it. More importantly, however, it’s where I met my wife, Hanna. I continue to work in auctions, which remains a core passion, and help lead an auction technology company, Basta.
On Landscapes: I look to create paintings that gesture to the landscape that I’ve observed around me. My goal is to produce a glimpse of something beautiful that is subtle and poignant, representational yet set in reality. Our local landscape downtown—ever-changing, vulnerable, and resilient—provides a fantastic subject matter.
Finding Inspiration: You can take the boy out of London, but you can’t take the London School out of the boy. One of my heroes is Frank Auerbach from that group. Some of my more recent influences have been Tracey Emin, Cecily Brown, and Joan Mitchell. Since moving to Charleston, both Corrie McCallum and William Halsey have served as recurrent inspirations in depicting their own versions of Charleston.
Creative Process: When working on a series, I will hit the studio, almost like a session, where I’ll paint for at least three hours straight. This gives me time to warm up, focus, then get stuck in. I will play an album or two, which is definitely when I do my best listening. Music is integral to my practice. I’m inspired by several bands, and when I approach a new body of work, I see this as almost like producing an album. Whenever we travel, I’ll always take a watercolor set with me and have painted small postcards of particular places all around the world.
Current Work: I’ve been working on a new body of work, “Low,” which I will exhibit in March. It approaches landscape as a point of reference rather than a subject of depiction, positioning place as something perceived, learned, and continually reformed.
