James Clar Filipino-American, b. 1979
Overview
James Clar, 'Baroque Default Colors', LEDs, aluminum, filters, wire, 117 x 117 cm. Courtesy of the artist and Lawrie Shabibi.
James Clar is a light and media artist whose work has been included in numerous exhibitions at museums and galleries worldwide, as well as being in various private and institutional collections.
His work explores the conceptual and narrative potential of light and technology. These systems are integrated into our daily lives, altering the way we receive information and communicate. They inform our perception of reality, time, and space. Every system for communication enhances certain types of information while limiting and simplifying others. These modulated effects to our perception have become a thematic focus to his works and a way to experiment with narrative forms.
Works
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Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!, 2015 -
This Fire Won’t Stop, 2016
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Render (Tree), 2016
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Ball & Chain # 3, 2021
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Parol #3 (Rotating Star), 2022
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The Box by the Window, 2022
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Cloud Seed Installation (Art Dubai 2022), 2022
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Refraction Sphere, 2023
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Horizontal Force (Capsule Arts Dubai), 2023
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Space Folding 024a, 2024
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Baroque Default Colors, 2024
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Sunlight Filtered Through The Eames House, 2024
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Ball Hitting Mirror, 2025
Biography
James Clar is a light and media artist whose work has been included in numerous exhibitions at museums and galleries worldwide, as well as being in various private and institutional collections.
Clar studied film at New York University and received his Masters from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. His interest is in new technological production processes and their application to artistic narrative forms.
His work explores the conceptual and narrative potential of light and technology. These systems are integrated into our daily lives, altering the way we receive information and communicate. They inform our perception of reality, time, and space. Every system for communication enhances certain types of information while limiting and simplifying others. These modulated effects to our perception have become a thematic focus to his works and a way to experiment with narrative forms.
Early Years in Dubai
Clar first arrived in Dubai in 2006 to work as an in-house artist for an architectural lighting firm. Immersing himself in the city’s nascent art scene, he soon formed connections with pioneering figures including Sunny Rahbar (The Third Line), Simone Sebastian (9714), Antonia Carver, Saadia Zahid, Ubik, and Rami Farook. The following year, he joined Farook’s newly established Traffic Gallery as its first represented artist, marking the beginning of a close creative partnership played a dynamic role in the UAE’s emerging contemporary art landscape.
With Farook and Traffic Gallery, in 2009 Clar designed the lighting for the United Arab Emirates’ inaugural pavilion at the Venice Biennale, representing artist Lamya Gargash. A year later, shifting fully into art, Traffic Gallery did their first presentation at Art Dubai (2010) with a solo booth of James' sculptural lightworks and technologically driven installations, debuting his artwork to a wider international audience.
Throughout the following years, Clar and Farook continued to collaborate across a range of exhibitions and projects as Traffic expanded its gallery team—including Sharifa AlSudairi, Nina Trojanovic, and Angelle Siyang Le—and worked with a generation of artists defining the region’s new visual language. During this time, Clar exhibited alongside figures such as Ahmed Mater, Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Mournir Fatmi, Shahpour Poouyan, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Shezad Dawood, and Sara Rahbar, among others.
In 2011, Traffic presented a dual exhibition with James Clar and Abdulnasser Gharem at Abu Dhabi Art, and later that year James became the first artist to direct the Satellite art space (an extension of Traffic Gallery) in the newly developing Alserkal Avenue cultural district. Under his residency, Satellite functioned as both an experimental studio and an artist-run space, hosting exhibitions and gatherings that contributed to the growth of Dubai’s contemporary art community. Notably, the studio was located just steps away from one of the district’s pioneering galleries, Lawrie Shabibi, foreshadowing a professional relationship that now comes full circle.
Return to New York and Asia
In 2012, Clar relocated to New York City, yet returned to Dubai with frequency for cultural projects and two solo presentations with Carbon 12 gallery. While in New York he began working with the renowned Jane Lombard Gallery, further developing his investigations into light, information, and cultural systems.
After nearly a decade in New York, Clar moved to his parent's native Philippines in 2021, settling in Manila and joining the reputable Silverlens Galleries to represent his practice in the Asia-Pacific region.
Exhibitions and Commissions
Clar has been an artist-in-residence at Eyebeam Atelier (New York), Fabrica (Italy), and the FedEx Institute of Technology / Lantana Projects (Memphis). His work has been exhibited at major institutions including The New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), Glucksman Museum (Ireland), Pera Museum (Istanbul), Ayala Museum (Manila), Cam Framis Museum and MACBA (Barcelona), and SeMA (Seoul).
He has been commissioned to create large-scale installations for Julius Baer (Art Dubai 2021), 21c Museum Hotels (Oklahoma), Parasol Unit Foundation for the Arts (London), and Fraport Headquarters (Frankfurt). His work Render (Tree) was featured in Noor Riyadh (2021), and he will return this year's Noor Riyadh 2025 to debut a new large-scale installation Clar will also be featured in Lawrie Shabibi’s upcoming group presentation at Abu Dhabi Art 2025.
Clar first arrived in Dubai in 2006 to work as an in-house artist for an architectural lighting firm. Immersing himself in the city’s nascent art scene, he soon formed connections with pioneering figures including Sunny Rahbar (The Third Line), Simone Sebastian (9714), Antonia Carver, Saadia Zahid, Ubik, and Rami Farook. The following year, he joined Farook’s newly established Traffic Gallery as its first represented artist, marking the beginning of a close creative partnership played a dynamic role in the UAE’s emerging contemporary art landscape.
With Farook and Traffic Gallery, in 2009 Clar designed the lighting for the United Arab Emirates’ inaugural pavilion at the Venice Biennale, representing artist Lamya Gargash. A year later, shifting fully into art, Traffic Gallery did their first presentation at Art Dubai (2010) with a solo booth of James' sculptural lightworks and technologically driven installations, debuting his artwork to a wider international audience.
Throughout the following years, Clar and Farook continued to collaborate across a range of exhibitions and projects as Traffic expanded its gallery team—including Sharifa AlSudairi, Nina Trojanovic, and Angelle Siyang Le—and worked with a generation of artists defining the region’s new visual language. During this time, Clar exhibited alongside figures such as Ahmed Mater, Ramin and Rokni Haerizadeh, Shaikha Al Mazrou, Mournir Fatmi, Shahpour Poouyan, Nadia Kaabi-Linke, Shezad Dawood, and Sara Rahbar, among others.
In 2011, Traffic presented a dual exhibition with James Clar and Abdulnasser Gharem at Abu Dhabi Art, and later that year James became the first artist to direct the Satellite art space (an extension of Traffic Gallery) in the newly developing Alserkal Avenue cultural district. Under his residency, Satellite functioned as both an experimental studio and an artist-run space, hosting exhibitions and gatherings that contributed to the growth of Dubai’s contemporary art community. Notably, the studio was located just steps away from one of the district’s pioneering galleries, Lawrie Shabibi, foreshadowing a professional relationship that now comes full circle.
Return to New York and Asia
In 2012, Clar relocated to New York City, yet returned to Dubai with frequency for cultural projects and two solo presentations with Carbon 12 gallery. While in New York he began working with the renowned Jane Lombard Gallery, further developing his investigations into light, information, and cultural systems.
After nearly a decade in New York, Clar moved to his parent's native Philippines in 2021, settling in Manila and joining the reputable Silverlens Galleries to represent his practice in the Asia-Pacific region.
Exhibitions and Commissions
Clar has been an artist-in-residence at Eyebeam Atelier (New York), Fabrica (Italy), and the FedEx Institute of Technology / Lantana Projects (Memphis). His work has been exhibited at major institutions including The New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), Glucksman Museum (Ireland), Pera Museum (Istanbul), Ayala Museum (Manila), Cam Framis Museum and MACBA (Barcelona), and SeMA (Seoul).
He has been commissioned to create large-scale installations for Julius Baer (Art Dubai 2021), 21c Museum Hotels (Oklahoma), Parasol Unit Foundation for the Arts (London), and Fraport Headquarters (Frankfurt). His work Render (Tree) was featured in Noor Riyadh (2021), and he will return this year's Noor Riyadh 2025 to debut a new large-scale installation Clar will also be featured in Lawrie Shabibi’s upcoming group presentation at Abu Dhabi Art 2025.