James Pappas has had a long and illustrative career as a painter who chose, “abstract” as a modality even early in the 60’s & 70’s, years associated with the, “black art movement.” To understand the difficulty of acceptance and recognition of, "abstract," in the early years, might be similar to the way in which many people approach, their understanding and acceptance of jazz music. Jazz is a form of music that layers many ethereal associations, many of which could be described as a meta-physical and even spiritual associations. In this case, it is often helpful if the viewer is equipped by being knowledgeable and capable of following an intimate audio weave, that massages consciousness, spirituality, cultural identity and even prophecies such as, “hope.”
Viewing the current body of work displayed in the Baobab Cultural Center, Jim Pappas is one of three exhibitors in a show aptly entitled, “Traditional Beats & New Rhythms.” Like any jazz piece, one doesn’t have to be like the last you encountered and so begins the journey of Jim’s paintings, unlike the last seen [“New Rhythm]. This series of work was admittedly influenced by Jim’s stay in the Bahamas and more probably the, “Junkanoo” Caribbean Festival. There is an explosion of not only, “jump-up” colors associated with the Caribbean but one can also almost hear the lyrical percussions of the, “pans” being executed through Jim’s keen sense of, “cotton candy colors and use of staccato negative spacing. If one does the work, one can now begin to locate, Jim Pappas, “The Conductor, the Band Leader” totally in charge of this concerto. Upon careful scrutiny each purveyor will work through layers of associations such as, “Nefertiti” was constructed with negative spaces while “Pisces” muses at the “Songhai Dynasty.” Other pieces of work examine the confluences of Picasso and the “House of Stone,” the Shona people of Zimbabwe, preeminent African abstractionist and still others one might finds shades of, “Athens’’ oozing from Jim’s stint in Greece along side of the, “Blues” imprinted from days past.
Jim Pappas may be perceived as a quiet man but not necessarily, a simple man, after all, he was one of the first in western New York to break the 10second barrier in the 100 yard dash, back in the day. This body of work is uniquely reminiscent to Coltrane’s, “Ole” and yet one can find, Armstrong’s trumpet blowing wide open the, DNA of “rap.” This series of paintings are more than, stand-alone works, they can provide a quiet and/or explosive safari for both the artist, musician and lay viewer. One needn’t expect to see and/or experience the aforementioned elements and relationships this writing sites; but each will interact with the work, integrating one’s own esthetic DNA, cultural and artistic imprinted fusion. It could be opinioned there is an absence of, “value” in the color palette, which appears to be utilized to keep the work lyrical and light, thus creating, “Traditional Beats & New Rhythms."
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