Diving deep into personal mythology, James Godwin creates paintings, drawings and sculptures with an emphasis on puppetry. His creative vision channels that of a modern age shaman, where psychology meets surrealism and the occult in a daily dance with the abyss.  As beautiful as they are strange, Godwin's work dares to peer into the darkest recesses of the artist's inner world.

In Godwin’s work, each piece is a cypher within his own particular language; hieroglyphs of the universal psyche. We can see Godwin's creations as imagistic pre-language, where every mark has the ability to communicate on a visceral level.  Using drawings as runes for protection, and painting as healing talismans, this master of puppets takes control over the chaos and complexity of what it means to be an artist.

Godwin's artworks are echoes of the artist himself, reflections etched in wood, charcoal and paint.. and often take the form of marionettes. The marionettes that inhabit Godwin’s world are engraved with our own spectrum of emotions. With a delicate tilt of the head, hollow haunted eyes, and mouths poised to speak, they allow us to connect on a profound emotional level. We feel their vulnerability and their pathos, and are drawn into their internal stories, seeing ourselves depicted within their journeys. 

Practicing since the 1980's in New York City, Godwin was the founding member of Elementals Puppet Company and Uncle Jimmy's Basement.  Godwin's work has been presented in venues P.S.122, Dixon Place, DTW, Franklin Furnace, LaMama and the Walker Art Center, with recent productions Flatiron Hex and Lunatic Cunning at Dixon Place and the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.  He's been a cast member of Jim Henson Alternative's off-Broadway show Stuffed and Unstrung, and has worked with director Julie Tremor, Dave Chappelle, and musicians David Bowie and Aerosmith.  Film and television credits include HBO's High Maintenance, PBS's It's a Big, Big World, Saturday Night Live, theDaily Show, I Sell the Dead and Ice Age 2.