Portraits on Canvas

Selected Works

koskinas-Face with Yellow_60 X 48_60 X 48_acrylic canvas
Face with Yellow
60″ X 48″ Acrylic on Canvas

My portraits seem as if they are phasing in and out of existence.  I wait until a personality shows and the painting vibrates with its own life. 

There are always surprises in my work.  I respond to them as best I can.

koskinas Portrait with Red_60 X 40_acrylic canvasPortrait with Red
60″ X  40″ Acrylic on Canvas

Face With Ochre
56.5″ X 44″ Acrylic on Canvas

They are visitors whom I welcome to my life for as long as they wish to stay. 

james koskinas Portrait with Red II_ 53 X 45_acrylic canvasPortrait with Red III
53″ X 45″ Acrylic on Canvas

koskinas Head with Blue Face, 66 X 46 acrylic on canvasHead With Blue Face
66″ X  46″ Acrylic on Canvas

Portrait with Blue
60″ X 36″ Acrylic on Canvas

Girl with Orange Hair II
60″ X 48″ Acrylic on Canvas

Most of my work never makes it to the finish line.  Sometimes I have 4 or 5 faces in the same painting. 

james koskinas Face with Ochre IIIFace With Ochre III
83″ X 60″ Acrylic on Canvas

koskinas Girl with Gray II_60X40_acrylic canvasGirl With Gray II
60″ X  40″ Acrylic on Canvas

Face With Black 10
40″ X 40″ Acrylic on Canvas

James Koskinas Face with Black 9, 40 x 40 acrylic with canvasFace With Black 9
40″ X 40″ Acrylic on Canvas

koskinas Seated Figure with Red_60 X 40_acrylic canvasSeated Figure with Red
60″ X 40″ Acrylic on Canvas

Charlotte
61″ X  51″ Acrylic on Canvas

Milo abstract figurative portrait by James Koskinas
Milo
56″ X 44″ Acrylic on Canvas

Portraits by James Koskinas

Faces are one of my primary subjects, part of my quest to know the human condition.  I attempt to paint as automatically as possible, intending to bring forth elements of my unconscious.  I add layers of paint until the original painting has been covered over many times, working rapidly.  Influenced by Native American mythology, I see the role of artist as akin to shaman, trusting my instincts and freeing the portrait from the customary restraints that painting imposes. 

I like building faces and then watching them go wild.  I like to bring them back and reassemble them in some order.  I like to collect the scattered pieces and fragments of a nose here, an eye, a mouth and the reassembly is not always realistic.  On the contrary, the usual order I start out with changes continually, finally revealing a personality or essence I am looking for.  Then I know the painting is done. 

-James Koskinas

Julie Schumer Dialogue With Black