James Coleman

James Coleman was born in Ballaghadereen, Ireland in 1941. He lives and works in Dublin and Paris. Since his first exhibition in 1970, Coleman’s pioneering practice has redefined our understanding and expectations of time-based work and has had an immeasurable influence on subsequent generations of artists. Coleman’s critique of the photographic image through meticulously composed slide, film and video projections engages the viewers understanding of how an image accrues meaning and the viewers’ role in defining the experience of the photographic image. While Coleman assigns a subtle conceptual and temporal aspect to the experience of the image, his works are characterized by a sensual beauty and elegance that results from his embrace of the photographic image's inherent uncertainties and potential.

Coleman studied at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris and the Accademia di Belle Arti, Milan as well as the Central School of Art and Design, London, and the National College of Art and Design University College, Dublin. In 2006 Coleman was awarded an honorary doctorate from the National University of Ireland, Galway and in 2002 he received the Kurt Schwitters Prize, Hannover, Germany as well as the Kunstpreis München. Coleman represented Ireland at the 1973 Paris Biennial. 

Solo exhibitions of Coleman's work have been held at Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (2021); MUMOK Vienna, Austria (2019); the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain (2012); the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland and the Project Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland (2009); the Museum do Chiado, Lisbon, Portugal (2004); Kunstbau Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany (2002); Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (2002); Kunstmuseum Luzern, Switzerland (2001); Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels, Belgium (1999); and the Centre Pompidou, Paris, France (1996)