RELIEF IN SIGHT: James Walsh’s Five-Decade Journey Through Paint

For five decades, Jim Walsh has pushed the boundaries of what paint can do, transforming acrylic into an ever expanding dialogue of form and color. From the earliest days of Golden Artist Colors to the present, Walsh has embraced nearly every medium GOLDEN has created, making each uniquely his own.

Now, RELIEF IN SIGHT at The Sam and Adele Golden Gallery (The SAGG) celebrates this extraordinary journey. We invite you to explore the exhibition and experience the full catalogue online. Step inside a lifetime of innovation, discovery, and devotion to the act of painting.

James Walsh is an American painter known for works that merge the sculptural tactility of relief with the expansive possibilities of color and surface. He earned his B.A. from Rutgers University in 1976 and an M.F.A. from Syracuse University in 1980, where he was introduced to a lively community of artists and critics that helped shape his independent artistic path.

Over the course of more than four decades, Walsh has exhibited widely in the United States, Canada, and Europe. His solo exhibitions include Galeria Joan Prats (New York, 1985 and 1988), Flowers East (London, 1991), Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon, 1997), Long Fine Art (New York, 2001), Spanierman Modern (New York, 2012), Baker Sponder gallery (Florida 2015), and Berry Campbell (New York, 2014 and 2020).

Walsh has also participated in a wide range of significant group exhibitions, from the Newark Museum Biennial of New Jersey Artists (1977) and Everson Museum of Art (1980) to international surveys such as Five American Artists at Galeria Joan Prats (Barcelona and New York, 1983–84), Retinal Visions at Ted Greenwald Gallery (New York, 1987), and In Focus: Color Field at Berry Campbell (2023). His work has appeared in venues including the Sculpture Center (New York), Edmonton Art Gallery (Canada), and Portland Museum of Art (Oregon).

Walsh’s paintings are represented in major public collections, including the Edmonton Art Gallery (Alberta, Canada), Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, NY), Mendel Art Gallery (Saskatoon, Canada), and the Portland Museum of Art (Oregon).

Central to his practice is an insistence on invention over repetition. Walsh describes his paintings as “one-off experiences,” the result of continually testing boundaries of material and form. This search has defined an extensive body of work that remains rich in color, deeply textured, and uncompromising in its originality. Walsh is currently represented by Berry Campbell (New York).

The exhibition catalogue and virtual gallery is on view now at www.theSAGG.org.  The public opening of the exhibition is on Saturday, September 27^th  and on view through February.