Infected By Art Book - Volume 4

James Christopher Hill

Born in Charleston, South Carolina, James Christopher Hill, has gained international notoriety for his paintings by his collectors and viewers. He is best known for painting his landscapes and skyscapes filled with vibrant color, swift movement and radiant energy in a contemporary stylistic language. His work explores the use of color and rhythm to create powerful, sweeping images that seek to provoke a particular mood or emotion by capturing an exact moment or memory in time that is meaningful to both him and the viewer. James has been developing a growing number of private and commercial collectors throughout the United States and the world. His work has been profiled on various articles, magazines and television shows. Still, James works every day to try to expand his knowledge and his talents through the study of the great masters of art throughout the ages.

As a professional artist in his early twenties including owning his own art gallery in downtown Charleston, James decided to acquire formal training at the prestigious Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, FL. In 1998, he graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Computer Animation; a field that while at Ringling, focused mainly on the understanding and discipline of master drawing and painting skills. His senior thesis entitled "Jataka" took home the Gold Oscar in the category of Best Student Computer Animation in 1998 from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 1999, James returned to the discipline of fine art and his work has been shown in numerous galleries in the Southeast and had two gallery openings in Manhattan, New York where his work was well received. He has won numerous awards in both fine art and computer animation including the AVA, Telly and the Aurora. He has served as vice-chair for both city art councils and art guilds in Charleston. He started the seasonal art gallery and has curated several shows with over 30 artists since 2007 at the North Charleston Meeting Space which is still continuing as The North Charleston Arts Council now curates the show. Also in 2007, he created and published his first art book entitled Skyscapes and Landscapes. Since then, he has been showcasing his latest works as and major exhibitor at many Science Fiction and Fantasy conventions including DragonCon, Megacon, Heroes Con, ConCarolinas, SuperCon in Miami, Upstate Steampunk in Greenville, Anachrocon and ConTemporal, a steampunk convention where he was the featured artist for the show in 2012. James was also responsible for helping to start Atomacon, a sci-fi/fantasy convention right here in North Charleston last november.

James' latest works finds him more and more returning to his childhood passion of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and even Steampunk (Victorian Science Fiction) genres. These new paintings and designs focus on many various subjects including paintings of old abandoned houses, haunted mansions, ghosts, dark Irish and Scotish Castles and ruins or even eerie, fog-ridden cemeteries at night during a full moon as an homage to the brilliant cinematography of the classic horror films in black and white. James is also currently creating paintings that cover everything from vast, beautiful cities of the future, fast starships, fantasy creatures and environments filled with ancient castles ruins. Finally James over the past few years has become heavily influential in the steampunk world using his art to focus on actual working designs from beautiful and elegant 3D animated renderings of various Steampunk designs.  

His latest works are back to Figure and Portraiture in Charcoal and Oils.