James Delaney is a contemporary painter, printmaker and sculptor who works from a studio in Victoria Yards, near downtown Johannesburg. He was born in Cape Town in 1971, studied at the University of Cape Town, and has been working as an artist since 2001. He has won awards from BASA (Business Arts South Africa) and the South African Institute of Architecture.
His work has been shown in over 20 solo and group exhibitions in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Philadelphia and New York. He has collaborated with other artists and several printmakers, including LL Editions, The Artist’s Press, Artist’s Proof Studio, and Robert Blackburn Print Workshop (New York). His work is in collections including Merrill Lynch Bank of America, the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the City of Johannesburg.
His work has become tied to two cities in particular, Johannesburg and New York. He works in New York every year and has produced various print works around the remains of history in the architecture and public art around the city. In Johannesburg, he has followed similar themes, but has become well known for his rehabilitation of a large public park called The Wilds.
For this park, he developed a style of metal cut-out sculptures based on charcoal sketches, and installed 100 pieces, which have become popular landmarks and drawn the people of Johannesburg back to the park. His studio now produces sculptures for clients around the world. He continues to also work in oil on canvas, lithography, linocut, silkscreen and charcoal drawing.
