Paintings
12 works
James McQueen Book Spines | Multi-Coloured For Sale
James McQueen
Book Spines | Multi-Coloured
Acrylic and mixed-media on canvas
152.4 × 101.6 cm
About this work
Book Spines | Multi-Coloured is an acrylic and mixed-media work on canvas measuring 152.4 × 101.6 cm, in which James McQueen renders his beloved library shelf motif at a scale that transforms the intimate pleasure of browsing books into a commanding, colourful composition. Each spine in the work represents a distinct volume — differentiated by colour, tone, and implied typography — creating a dense, joyful arrangement that celebrates the cultural abundance of the personal library. The multi-coloured palette is the defining feature of this canvas: the spines jostle and complement one another across the entire surface, creating a work of considerable visual energy. McQueen's approach is painterly but precise — individual spines retain their character and distinctness while contributing to a unified whole. On canvas, the work acquires the physicality and presence of a significant painting, the layered media adding a tactile dimension to the typographic subject matter. McQueen's Book Spines series has become one of the defining motifs of his practice, resonating deeply with collectors who share his affection for literature and visual culture. The multi-coloured works, in particular, offer a celebratory vision of the bookshelf as landscape — abundant, personal, and endlessly varied. Book Spines | Multi-Coloured is a work that speaks to readers, collectors, and lovers of colour in equal measure.
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Edition & Provenance
- Medium
- Acrylic and mixed-media on canvas
About James McQueen
James McQueen Paintings for Sale | Guy Hepner, New York
James McQueen is a British artist born in 1977 whose paintings sit at the intersection of Pop sensibility, material obsession, and dry British wit. He works under a pseudonym, and his identity is secondary to the work — which is the point. What matters is what ends up on the canvas.
McQueen's paintings are built, not simply applied. He works in layers — paint over paint, colour over colour — then sands the surface back to expose what lies beneath, then seals it in lacquer. The result is a depth that photographs struggle to capture. These are surfaces you need to stand in front of.
His subject matter has ranged from reinterpreted Penguin paperback covers to politically charged commentary to the large-scale mixed-media Anthology works now available through Guy Hepner. Across all of it runs a consistent preoccupation: the visual language of mass culture, rendered monumental and unfamiliar by the seriousness of the craft brought to bear on it.
McQueen has shown extensively in London and is represented in significant private collections internationally.
Guy Hepner | 177 Tenth Avenue, New York