Most people first encounter James Hammontree through music. He’s a servant of the DIY community, long known for booking house shows, playing in a baker’s dozen worth of bands (you’ll currently find him in Sex Snobs, Power Pyramid and performing solo as Sensitiv Southside Boy) and generally getting his hands dirty to steady and advance counterculture in central Oklahoma. The local punk scene is booming, and Hammontree deserves a good deal of credit for establishing a community that has fostered that.
But he’s as capable with a paintbrush in his hands as he is with an instrument. Working both in oils and ink, Hammontree studied art in San Francisco before returning back home to Oklahoma City and is finding inspiration in early German Expressionism and the New York art movements of the 1980s. His love of post-punk and noise-rock can’t help but seep into the energy of his figurative works as well. His work has shown at MAINSITE Contemporary Art, Grease Trap Gallery and other venues across Oklahoma.
“As an artist, I seek to not only have a visual communication with my audience, but also an emotional relationship,” Hammontree said in his artist statement. “My work deals directly with the human condition. Within the human condition exists success and failure. The motivation to create a piece of art, as well as its subsequent failure, can constitute creating a piece of art itself.”
Hammontree’s latest exhibition, Art Trashcan, debuts Sunday at Tall Hill Creative in Oklahoma City, celebrated with an opening reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Here’s a look at some of his past and current work:
View more of Hammontree’s work and keep tabs on Power Pyramid and Sex Snobs, the latter of which has a new album set for release later this spring.
