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Among the generation of American artists now in
their early forties, Iowa born painter and
printmaker Jim Buckels is a delightful anomaly: An
artist more driven by his inner visions than by
fashions and trends. Yet, his work possesses an
innate sophistication that places it prominently
within the post-modern mainstream. In fact, Buckels
is a Neo-Surrealist of a peculiarly American Breed:
a creator of dream-like images, rendered in a
meticulous, modern airbrush technique with the
crystalline clarity of a Colonial limner. In his
lithographs and serigraphs, as well as in his
acrylic paintings, Buckels limns a seamless realm of
fantasy that has won him a major reputation in a
remarkably short span of time.
Jim Buckels'
fascination with fantasy began in early childhood,
when his mother, who taught English composition and
literature at Iowa State University, would read to
him from storybooks illustrated by N.C. Wyeth,
Maxfield Parrish, and Hoeard Pyle. Later, his
artistic talent won him a scholarship to the
University of Northern Iowa, which his adventurous
spirit compelled him to interrupt in his sophomore
year, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army for a three
year stint, including a tour of Vietnam. Returning
to civilian life in 1971, Buckels resumed his
studies at UNI, earning a bachelor's degree in art,
and began his career as a freelance illustrator,
becoming known for his stylized landscapes, inspired
by such regional artists as Grant Wood and Thomas
Hart Benton, as well as by the primitive dreamscapes
of the great French painter, Henri Rousseau.
This unique
confluence of influences also informs the acrylic
paintings, lithographs, and serigraphs for which Jim
Buckels is now best known, Their visionary vistas
and fantastic architectural details offering the
viewer a restful respite from reality. For, these
are paintings and prints that one can not only live
with but enter into like a magical refuge, a return
trip ticket to the story book realm of childhood
reverie.
As one New York
art critic recently noted, the pictures of Jim
Buckels "tell stories that linger in memory long
after one has viewed them, hinting at truths that
lie just below the surface of the seen world". For
this reason as well as for his outstanding technical
skills, Buckels has emerged as a contemporary master
whose work will continue to enthrall us for many
years to come. |
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Hotel de L Eclse |
The Two Suitors |
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The Vale of Enna
11 x 15 |
Le Moulin |
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Leda's Bath
23 1/2 x 40 |
Midnight Blue Delage |
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Nocturne |
She Sends Her Regrets |
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The Boating Party
23 1/8 x 41 |
Cheshire Moon
27 x 30 1/4 |
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Freccia d'Oro
28 x 32 |
Lago Maggiore
24 x 20 |
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