Capital City Arts Initiative

Exhibition Dates: October 4, 2023 – January 25, 2024
Artist’s Reception: Wednesday, October 11, 5 – 6:30pm; artist’s introduction 5:30pm
Exhibition Venue: Carson City Courthouse, 885 E Musser Street, Carson City, Nevada

Windows to the Soul
Exhibition in the Courthouse Gallery

James Gayles’ watercolor portraits aren’t just real, they seem to tell a story.

The Capital City Arts Initiative’s exhibition, Windows to the Soul, presents James Gayles’ watercolor paintings at the Courthouse Gallery from October 4, 2023 – January 25, 2024. CCAI will host a reception for the artist on Wednesday, October 11, 5:00 – 6:30pm with the artist introduction at 5:30pm. The Courthouse is located at 885 E Musser Street, Carson City; the gallery is open Monday – Friday, 8:00am – 5:00pm. Watch James Gayles’ gallery interview here: https://youtu.be/iJBT2n3Owa0

Describing his art, Gayles said, “I guess my artwork would traditionally fit under the category of realistic portraiture. However, when I paint I seek so much more than capturing a particular human’s likeness. What is more significant to me is to portray what lies beneath the physical, to seek out the intangible, the essence, the soul and spirit of an individual. I attempt to accomplish this insane feat by freezing a moment in time when the subject is in the midst of an emotional experience. This is one reason I enjoy painting a musician in the throws of creating music with their instrument. There are times when I do go for the exact image likeness of a person, but I do not consider these moments to be when I create my most meaningful pieces of artwork. It is rather when I dive deeper into the depths of the person’s emotions and try to unlock the mysteries of what lies within their mind. The dominant medium that I employ to do this is watercolor because of its spontaneous fluidity and its subtle nuances. Occasionally, I will dabble in Mixed Media work, particularly in the background of the human head. With the inclusion of such elements as collages, design motifs, symbols, text, and abstract shapes, whatever will aid in understanding the nature of the subject. To express the subconscious and intangible properties of a person. And then, there are those occasions where I’m not actually painting a particular person, but I’m painting universal elements of the human condition. In these instances the subjects themselves, who they are become nonimportant, they become generic. In these paintings, my goal is to communicate raw universal emotions such as love, joy, hope, pride, and sadness. But that is a whole other story.”

James Gayles is an Emmy Award-winning artist and musician based in Reno, Nevada. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Gayles attended Pratt Institute in New York, where he studied under renowned painters Jacob Lawrence and super realist Audrey Flack. He simultaneously pursued careers in both fine and commercial art. As a commercial artist, he established himself in New York as a graphic designer and illustrator, becoming Assistant Director of Graphics at NewsCenter 4, NBC-TV. For his work at NBC, he won a television Emmy Award for design and illustration. James is also a two-time winner of Art Direction magazine’s Creativity Award, one for the NewsCenter 4 logo redesign, and the other for an editorial illustration for the New York Times.

In 1980 he relocated to Oakland, California from the east coast and started working at the Bay Area News Group. He won first place for illustration at the California Newspaper Publishers Award. He has illustrated for McGraw-Hill, Random House, Essence magazine, Black Enterprise magazine, as well as several advertising agencies on both the East and West coasts. 

James’ paintings have been exhibited in galleries in the Bay Area, nationally, and abroad. He has won public art commissions from the City of Oakland, the City of Richmond, and the Alameda County Arts Commission. He was honored to be one of the four artists portrayed in David Burke’s Love Letter to Oakland mural on 4th and Oak Street. His next Nevada show will be with the City of Reno’s Metro Gallery, opening late October, 2023. https://www.jamesgayles.com/

Chris Lanier wrote the exhibition essay, The Paper is not Silent — available here Gayles essay and in the gallery. Lanier is an artist and critic who generally likes to mix things up – words and pictures, video and performance, design, and art. He’s had work shown and published in the U.S., Mexico, England, Japan, France, Canada, and Serbia – and has written for The Believer, HiLobrow, Furtherfield, Rhizome, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Comics Journal. He is a Professor of Digital Art at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe (formerly Sierra Nevada College). More at http://chrislanierart.wordpress.com

Gisela Munzo, a Latino Leadership Academy student from Western Nevada College, provided a Spanish translation of the show’s wall text.

CCAI is an artist-centered not-for-profit organization committed to community engagement in contemporary visual arts through exhibitions, illustrated talks, arts education programs, artist residencies, and online activities.

The Initiative is funded by the John Ben Snow Memorial Trust, Nevada Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities, John and Grace Nauman Foundation, Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Kaplan Family Charitable Fund, Southwest Gas Corporation Foundation, Steele & Associates LLC, and CCAI sponsors and members.

image, right: Zora; 24″ x 18″; watercolor on paper, 2020
image, left: Self-portrait; 20″ x 16″; watercolor on paper, 2023
image, center: Windows to the Soul exhibition flier