James Siena represented by Miles McEnery Gallery

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MILES McENERY GALLERY is pleased to announce representation of James Siena.

James Siena is known for his inimitable process of creating intricate multiform abstractions. His practice is driven by self-imposed, often cryptic sets of rules that he—and various critics—have termed visual algorithms. Siena preemptively determines his marks and actions and repeats them procedurally as his works result in intensely concentrated, vibrantly colored, freehand compositions. His work often references diagrams, complex puzzles, labyrinths, and mapping. Siena’s inward meditations actively engage traditions of pattern and mark-making in an ongoing exploration of scale, materiality, and interaction of color. Maneuvering across a diverse range of mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing, lithography, etching and woodcuts, his work has placed him firmly within the canon of contemporary American art. 

JAMES SIENA (b. 1957, Oceanside, CA) received his Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. For over two decades, the artist has taught at New York’s School of Visual Arts in the Masters of Fine Arts department. He is a board member of the Corporation of Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY; the National Academy of Design, New York, NY; and the Herbert F. Johnson Museum at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. In 2021, Siena was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, New York, NY.

Siena’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Baronian Xippas, Brussels, Belgium; Dieu Donné, New York, NY; Galerie Xippas, Paris, France; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Pace Gallery, New York, NY; Pace Prints, New York, NY; Pierogi 2000, Brooklyn, NY; The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; Ratio 3, San Francisco, CA; and the University Art Museum, University of Albany, New York, NY; among others.

The artist has participated in group exhibitions at the American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY; Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY; The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY; Hecksher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Whitney Musem of American Art, New York, NY; and elsewhere.

His work is in numerous institutional collections including the Hammer Museum, University of California, Los Angeles, CA; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.

The artist lives and works in New York, NY and Otis, MA.