James Nares is a New York City-based British artist known for his large calligraphic paintings in which a large, isolated brushstroke appears to float across a blank monochrome surface. To achieve this sense of weightlessness, Nares invented a special apparatus that enables him hang above the picture and paint from directly overhead, avoiding any drips or other “sign of gravity” which might result from painting onto an upright canvas. He may erase and attempt the same stroke over and over again, continuing until he achieves a desired precision and feels he is successful. “A lot of it had to do with reinventing the brush, the surface, and the paint,” he explained of his process. “ and you get something completely different.”

Born in 1953 in London, England, Nares went on to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York, soon becoming an integral part of the late 1970s downtown Manhattan art scene, initially working in film and creating a series titled No Wave.

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