In Jackson Square on a warm afternoon, scores of artists and performers were out trying to capture the attention of the hundreds of weekend revelers walking around the French Quarter. A violinist playing a mix of Beatles hits and classical pieces had attracted a substantial audience outside the front steps of the Saint Louis Cathedral; a long row of clairvoyants shuffled their tarot cards as they awaited their chance to tell another fortune; and artists of all skill levels and mediums covered the fences circling the park with their art. Another group of artists occupy the fences behind the cathedral, and it was there that I found Juan Carlos James.
Juan Carlos is a middle-aged artist from Bucaramanga, Colombia, a small city on the border between Colombia and Venezuela. Juan Carlos was drawn to art at an early age, because his father was an architect. Later on in life, he would take art classes in Colombia that helped him learn the fundamentals of color, design, and composition. Since that time, he has been a self-proclaimed “gypsy,”(“James, Juan Carlos. Interviewed by Phillip Boyett. Jackson Square. March 30, 2014.”) traveling around Latin America and the United States and selling his art. As he moves, his art changes to fit the city, he explains: “When you go to San Francisco, you see a lot of spray colors, vibrant, you know, different. New York is black and white, photographs. Different cities. Nashville is instruments, sculptures. It’s a different place, different media.” In New Orleans, he has been inspired to paint and make wire sculptures of religious figures as well as the birds he hears and sees in Jackson Square. “I enjoy doing another work, another place, another day, another color,” he explains.
The experience that Juan Carlos has gained from being an artist in many different cities has taught him the secret to selling art, which begins not with the art but with himself. “You see, I am training myself to enjoy people, to love people. And it’s like prostitution. The first business in life, you have to sell yourself, if not you don’t get nothing,” he proclaims with a laugh. This business of selling himself first and his art second has worked for him for quite some time: “In our culture, being an artist is not a trade. You have to be in an office, 24/7, blah blah blah. Nothing of that in my life. I never have a job. You know, I have jobs periodically, but the maximum would be like two years.” Since his children have grown, he has supported himself solely from his art, which affords him enough to live, paint, drink, and smoke freely.
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