Visual Artist – James Jean ✔Certified
Passage (2019) Skill Mastery 🟨+ Effort🟧: 84%
James Jean’s Passage is an archival giclée print with 15 different metallic colors applied using a proprietary chine-collé technique developed specifically for this edition, measuring 51 × 145 cm on 310gsm 100% cotton-rag paper. The work depicts a large reed boat overcrowded with refugees seeking asylum in some distant shore, floating in an acidic ocean. The design of the boat is based on the reed boats of Lake Titicaca made by the Uros indigenous people. Norwegian ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl built a series of reed boats, one constructed by boat builders from Lake Titicaca, to demonstrate that ancient civilizations could have migrated and traded across vast oceans. While also being a nod to Théodore Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa, the characters in the boat represent an overflow of cultural archetypes cast adrift in geo-politicized waters that allow for economic trade but deem dangerous the export and import of humanity and culture. Published by Avant Arte in an edition of 50, each print is signed, dated, and numbered in pencil.
Here’s how this rating breaks down using the Consistent Multi-Criteria Rubric method:
Technical Skill and Execution (25% of total score): 9/10 = 2.25 points Exceptional technical achievement in printmaking. The proprietary chine-collé technique with 15 metallic colors demonstrates mastery of a complex process requiring precise registration and material knowledge. The dimensional quality achieved through layered metallics shows sophisticated understanding of how light interacts with surface.
Composition and Design (25% of total score): 8/10 = 2.00 points Strong horizontal composition suited to the panoramic format. The boat structure provides clear visual anchor while figures create rhythmic movement across the elongated frame. The design effectively references Géricault’s triangular composition while adapting it to a contemporary horizontal format.
Originality and Creativity (20% of total score): 8/10 = 1.60 points Solid conceptual vision fusing references to Peruvian reed boats and French Romantic painting. The cultural collision creates interesting dialogue, though the appropriation of Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa is a well-trodden path in contemporary art. The technical innovation of the chine-collé process adds originality.
Color Use and Harmony (15% of total score): 9/10 = 1.35 points Outstanding use of metallic color creating shifting, iridescent surfaces. The 15-layer metallic palette creates complex chromatic relationships that change with light and viewing angle, demonstrating sophisticated color theory applied to printmaking materials.
Emotional Impact and Expression (15% of total score): 8/10 = 1.20 points Solid emotional resonance through the voyage metaphor and art historical reference. The work invites contemplation of migration, survival, and human vulnerability, though as a print edition it lacks the singular presence of unique paintings.
Total: 84%
