Jim enrolled in art school in 1967 at Fort Hayes State College, where he completed both his Bachelors and Master's degrees in art. Biographically, this moment marked a huge change in his life, and it was reflected in the work he began making. Prior to studying art, Jim had been a practicing architect (which was his career until he retired a couple years ago), and much of that practice informs his design sensibilities both directly and indirectly. It's interesting to look back at some of his early work, and recognize not only the influence art movements of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s had on him, but also to see images that have been mixed and amalgamated into the sort of life collage that his his self portraiture has become.
As with the art world at large, computers and digital media marked a big transition in Jim's work. Starting in the mid 1990s, he began condensing and using digital collage to combine more traditional media--his paintings, film photographs, and drawings--with his self-image in a new way. Many of his photos are performative, and when collaged with other works, become the narrative component to his self-portrait. Looking at his newer digital works you can see fragments of work from decades prior, and, through repetition and progression you can almost begin to trace a history, hence the exhibition and the book's title: the beginning of now.
