
A NATUREZA DO TEMPO
15
THE NATURE OF THE TIME
JAMES ROWLAND
MAY | 2024
PRESS CLIPPINGS
Nothing is perfect, and nothing goes untouched by the passage of time. James Rowland portrays his perception of this maxim and its relationship with nature through the show ‘A natureza do tempo’ (‘The nature of the time’).
His artistic research stems from his connection with nature, which was influenced by observing the cycles of degradation and rebirth of the Atlantic Forest, that impacted him with a magnitude similar to what he felt in his childhood when facing the neolithic stones of Scotland.
Nowadays, James lives near the Bocaina Mountains, where he observes the forms and shapes sculpted on the river and mountains by the passage of time, stone and dirt, scarred over millennia of erosion, then he reflects upon the human impact on a place that, untouched until it became, first, a route to transport gold and coffee, and now a highway.
Based on the premise that the existence of an ancestral connection with nature, birthplace of all human beliefs, was lost in contemporary society, James believes that few are those who don’t feel an immediate reconnection, or a sensation of reverence, when encountering nature. This is the feeling the artist aims to evoke in the viewer.
The biomorphic forms portrayed in his work depict the action of time on native wood and its natural cycles, representing the scars, weathering, fissures, and embossing that come naturally over the years. The wood is chosen intuitively, or through the impulse to create with scraps, seeking to highlight the beauty and natural colors of the materials when combined with metal.
The show portrays nature’s beauty, regardless of man, sculpted by time and in constant modification that, despite the distance from the present day, still awakens an indescribable sensation.











