Cova, 2011

James Siena is a contemporary abstract artist whose works are geometrical and graphic in nature. The complex patterns of his works emerge from 'visual algorithms' that are presets to his designs. He work in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, lithography, etching, woodcut, bronze-work, engraving, enameling and drawing. Siena's initial inspiration emerged from Artificial Intelligence, over the years he has moved on to explore the visual tropes of labyrinths and puzzles, playing with the machine-like movement of moving through a work of art. James Siena's aesthetic is expressed through bold colors and repetitive patterns that connect with post-industrial abstractions and play with human perception. Dynamic in their style, James Siena seeks to make highly charged works that engage the viewer with their intricacy and complexity. James Siena cites Rube Goldberg as an early influence, admiring his cartoons of complex machines that performed basic tasks, seeing his own works as two-dimensional machines. Works such as Battery(1997) and Dr. Michelle Carlson (2011-201) are intense patterns that border on optical illusion. Other works such as theLogic Package Sequence series are linear works that resemble flow charts. His sculptures are 3D manifestations of his signature geometrical shapes, with James Siena's bronze-works recalling endless tube formation. Siena's works are visually stunning in both their organic and mathematically precise renderings of shape and form.