James Siena

Works          Biography

James Siena was born in California in 1957 and received his BFA in 1979 from Cornell University. He currently lives and works in New York City. 
Siena creates paintings, drawings, and prints in which hand-rendered procedural abstractions, methodically executed, cover a wide range of modalities and produce multiple visual and psychological effects. Siena's work stimulates both the eye and the brain. As Roberta Smith wrote in an early review of his paintings: "Mr. Siena is unusually adept at translating the mental into the visual. His paintings think as good as they look." The jewel-like surfaces of his paintings become equally compelling when transformed into the medium of intaglio printmaking. Tactile, compressed and intricate, the work is above all emphatically physical, as seen in the raised surface of the etched line, and the attentive use of color. Harlan & Weaver has published both individual prints and portfolios with Siena. The close proximity of their studios has helped to foster an enduring working relationship.