James Reyes (b. 1991, Bronx, NY)
 

James Reyes was born in 1991 to Puerto Rican parents. He grew up in the Bronx and became involved in the NYC arts scene in 2013 when he was included in two group shows entitled “Complex Reality,” and “LSD: Life, Sex, and Death” at Brooklyn’s Apostrophe NYC gallery. After receiving his BFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2014, he participated in Apostrophe NYC’s guerilla exhibitions, placing work in NYC subway stations until their gatherings were eventually shut down by police. In 2016, he joined a group of 12 artists that called themselves “Base 12” and continued with the guerilla exhibition model, hosting pop-up shows in the Whitney Museum of American Art, MoMA PS1, Luna Park, NYC Subway stations, and at Juxtapoz Clubhouse in Miami, FL. Alongside working with Base 12, he showed work independently at the Clutch Magazine Trades Fair in Yokohama, Japan, Festival of Colors: Holi in Brooklyn, and at Apostrophe NYC and Mana Contemporary both in Jersey City. His first solo exhibition, titled “UEY UEY” opened at Apostrophe NYC in collaboration with Mana Contemporary in Jersey City in 2017. He later showed two more solo exhibitions at Ki Smith Gallery in NYC in 2022 and 2023, respectively titled “Two Fingers” and “Love Thy Neighbor.” He was one the featured artists at the 2023 SCOPE Art Fair in Miami, where his work was acquired by national and international collectors. Working with a variety of sizes, Reyes’s paintings are directly influenced by his cultural and social environments. His pieces include intensely gestural and occasionally chaotic brushstrokes, splashes, drips, sprays, and scrapes that allow him to evoke figures who appear both fully rendered while still surreal. With these concepts, he creates a mesmerizing push-and-pull between figuration and abstraction that connects each body of work. James's work can be found in various private collections, Mana Contemporary’s permanent collection, as well as the permanent collection of a museum that will be launching in Baltimore in 2026.