The works in this exhibition (click on links on the left) represent a selection of my work as an artist who has been working professionally and exhibiting widely in North America and abroad for nearly twenty-five years. 

The source of my work comes from the discovery of everyday matter in our universe. Drips of running water on a car window when the interior heat meets the external cold to form a pattern on the glass, the sun shining on a piece of metal reflecting a broken edge so brilliant that it likens to a form in itself; a rusted steel shape from a damaged automobile as a result of the constant corrosive action of natures elements; the erosion of deeply etched earth forms from years of weathering action; of a billboard shredded of its layered descriptions forming shapes with abrupt endings and sharply defined beginnings. The war between nature and technology. I explore these observances to form a visual opinion of shapes and images which are redefined by human and natural reordering. I explore the concept of spatial relationships peculiar to my sense of vision. For me, "making art" is like an adventure in time and space. What I am trying to express may be alien to your eye, but it is the soul that I am trying to reach. Like a song or a sound it will cause you to listen, and urge you to renew the experience. It might even cause a disturbance. With this fleeting moment you have made a connection. There is no beginning or end. That space in between sound and its order or disorder is what is being articulated in a visual space.

I accept the idea that art is a mirror reflection of all living matter. That includes everything known to humanity and beyond; the forces of the "Black Hole."

To give a title to a work prompts the viewer to look for its representation. The titles of my work are more deeply imbedded in the ritual of making these images, therefore it is important to rely on your own experience to establish a conversation. The various works offer a plethora of opportunities to probe the text and read it as a novel. Experience the linkages of interrelated statements being made by color, shape, form, line and mass, as well as the continuum of repeated references from one work to another. The medium guides the inertia of each set of works. The screened images are immediate and unrelenting in their broad sweeping statements. The drawings are impulsive, and gestural, while at the same time tediously rendered. The paintings prompt a more sensual connection.

James Pappas began studying art at Madison High School in Rochester, New York. He won scholarships to the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery and Rochester Institute of Technology for development classes in 1955-56. Upon graduation from Madison he went to St. Augustine's College in Raliegh, North Carolina, in 1959 on an athletic scholarship, where he studied under visiting Professor Emeritus, and nationally known artist and author James Herring, from Howard University. Pappas continued his undergraduate and graduate work at the State University of New York at Buffalo Albright Art School where he received his Master of Fine Arts Degree in painting in 1974.

After graduation Pappas took a position as a parole worker for the state of New York. He then went on to teach at the University of Buffalo in the departments of Art and Black Studies. He became Chair of the latter in 1977 where he remained for thirteen years as its head. He also became Head Master of Black Mountain College II, a collegiate unit offering visual and performing Arts programs for the general student population at SUNY Buffalo. At the same time he was Co-founder and Director (with his fellow artists Allie Anderson, Clarence Scott and Wilhelmena Godfrey) of the Langston Hughes Center for the Visual and Performing Arts in Buffalo's Inner City.

As part of his many contributions to the arts, Pappas has consulted on a large number of projects and has played an important role in furthering the arts in New York State while being appointed to numerous boards and committees, including the City of Buffalo Arts Commission, New York State Council on the Arts, County of Erie Arts in Public Places Board, the Niagara Frontier Airport Art Selection Committee, Burchfield-Penny Art Center, and the CEPA Gallery.

His art work has been exhibited in the United States, Canada, and Europe. He has also received many awards for his work and community service.

Pappas is currently on the faculty as an associate professor at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York. He has had over 50 exhibitions and lectured widely in the field of Applied Media Aesthetics where he specializes in Black Cinema studies. His latest project involves collaborating with saxophonists Rey Scott in a multidisiplinary work.