Inside the Studio

Jim Harris

Check out the improvised, Ancient UFO-themed artworks by Jim Harris. 

Favorite material to work with?
Oil paint on Wood.

What themes do you pursue?
Free improvisation, Urban skylines, Ancient UFOs, No Wave and Jazz LP covers which utilize heavy half tones.

What was the best advice given to you as an artist?
Paint everyday.

Where is your studio?
Third floor of my house – Tokyo, Japan.

Art school or self-taught?
Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston. I highly recommend it.

Prefer to work with music or in silence?
Music. Mostly Jazz and punk.  Miles Davis, Sonny Criss and Eric Dolphy really inspire me to make art.

What’s around the corner from your place?
Mini Stop and a bunch of Cabbage fields.

Where can we find you outside of the studio?
At a Shinto Shrine or Buddhist Temple.

If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
Play and record music – I play guitar and and some analog synth stuff, mostly instrumental noise.

Favorite contemporary artist?
Gareth Sansom.

What do you collect?
Music CDs. Anything by Wong Faye or Kaji Meiko.

If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
Memoria in Aeternum by Hans Hofmann.

Who are your favorite writers?
Mike Davis (Ecology of Fear), Charles Bukowski – I prefer his novels over his poems, Tu Fu and all the other Tang Poets.

Use anything other than paint?
Ink, charcoal.

Is painting dead?
No, it’s alive more than ever. The internet has given artists world wide exposure.

Favorite brush?
Anything from the hardware store.

Palette knifes?
Liquitex

Monet or Manet?
Monet.