Todd James (born 1969) is a contemporary artist from New York City. Self-taught, he started painting when he was very young the New York subway system under the name REAS. James designed the Beastie Boys' Brooklyn Dust Elephant logo (1987) The Source (Magazine) logo as well as Mobb Deep, Red Man, Eminem, Kid Rock. Art from his coloring book/zine Attitude Dancer was used as a cover for Iggy Pop's Beat em up album . Todd Was the puppet designer for Crank Yankers on Comedy Central produced by Jimmy Kimmel and Jack Hole productions.
He created, with Barry McGee and Steve Powers, Street Market at New York City's Deitch Projects. This exhibition was selected for the 2001 Venice Biennale. In 2004, he also participated in the group exhibition Beautiful Losers which travelled to several museums in the US. The Street Market installation was Re built and expanded for the L.A. MOCA "Art in the Streets" in 2011.
His works have been shown at numerous museums and galleries worldwide, like the Tate Liverpool, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts[1] or the Institute of Contemporary Arts[2] in Philadelphia.
His distinctive cartoon-style paintings are very ironic. Todd's paintings reflected a variety of influences, including the pop culture and American expressionist painters such as Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.
He lives and works in New York City.
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2010 Infinity Lessons, A.L.I.C.E. gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Great Adventure, Galería Javier López, Madrid, Spain
Make My Burden Lighter, Gering & López Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Disaster, Monster Children Gallery, Australia
Double Disaster, Don't Come Gallery, Australia
Don't Stop Get it Get it, Colette, Paris, France
2008 Blood & Treasure, Lazarides Gallery, London, UK
2007 Trouble, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2010 Brush Strokes, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
Album exhibition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2009 The Paper Chasers, Ohwow, New Zealand
The New Yorkers, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2008 The Outsiders, The Lazarides Gallery, New York, NY
Destruction of Atlantis, Union Gallery London, UK
2007 Paper Trails, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark
2006 High Math, V1 Gallery Copenhagen, Denmark
Arkitip, Venice Beach, October, Todd James and KAWS, Venice, Italy
Arkitip, Tokyo, December, Todd James and KAWS, Tokyo, Japan
2005 Beautiful Losers, Baltimore Contemporary Museum, June 25 - Sept 25, Baltimore, MD
Beautiful Losers, Orange County Museum of Art, February 6 - May 15, Orange County, CA
2004 Beautiful Losers, Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, March 13 - May 15, Cincinnati, OH
Beautiful Losers, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, October 3, San Francisco, CA
2002 Beloved Fiend, Todd James, Tate Liverpool Biennal, Liverpool, UK
Pot o Gold 3, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Delta, Australia
2001 Tits and Ass, Todd James and Jamil GS, Huston Gallery, Seattle, WA
Pot o Gold 2, Todd James, Chris Johanson, and James Jarvis, PAM Gallery Australia, Perks, Australia
2000 Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Parco Gallery, Japan
Untitled 2000, Japan Group show Keith Haring Foundation, Japan
Street Market, with Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
1999 Indelable Market, Todd James, Steve Powers, Barry McGee, Institute for Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
1998 Daze/Crash with guest Reas, Recent Works, Pallazzo Enrico Coveri Florence, Florence, Italy
Adventures of the Four Letter Word, with Steve Powers
Nguyen, Patrick & Mackenzie, Stuart, (2010) Beyond the street : the 100 leading figures in Urban Art, published by Gestalten
James, Todd (2003), Todd james, Testify Books
James, Todd (2008) Todd James: Blood & Treasure. Published by Lazarides Gallery.
Clark Magazine #33 Reas aka Todd James