James A. Powers ’08

Although Lampoon members have a reputation for being obnoxious and over-the-top, James A. Powers ’08, a soft-spoken Irishman, does not conform to stereotypes. Powers has illustrated covers for the Lampoon and drawn cartoons for The Crimson, but painting is where his passion lies. His work for the Lampoon is one of his proudest achievements at Harvard, but Powers enjoys painting because his work doesn’t have to fit into a niche.

While growing up, Powers drew lots of comic strips, with Tintin as an early inspiration. But with his arrival at Harvard, his interest in painting intensified. He credits the faculty of the Visual and Environmental Studies (VES) department—including Nancy Mitchnick—and his fellow students with helping him develop his style. “I think the great thing about Harvard is you’ve got a broad range of people doing art,” he says. “From co-op people to New England preppy people; people are not self conscious.”

The artistic students are not the only students who provide Powers with motivation, “People that just work a lot inspire me. If they’re in the lab nine hours a day, I kind of feel bad about not being in the studio for nine hours.”

Painting at Harvard is underappreciated among students, according to Powers, particularly since “Film is pretty hip. A lot of VES people do film.” But he cites the funding he has received from Harvard as the best in America. “You can take these risks,” he says. “I’ve never had to worry about a budget. I’ve never had to worry about fucking up the whole thing and throwing the whole thing away.”

The results of that experimentation have lead to his interest in painting industrial landscapes and tools. “I’m Irish,” Powers says. “Everything is really small in Ireland. I like big structures, big buildings.” He’s frustrated by those who can not see the beauty of industrial tools and landscapes: “Everyone likes flowers, nice views, parks, mountains, hills, statues. It is people that I can bond with over industrial landscaping that I would actually like to know.” (Powers demonstrated his own landscaping skills earlier this year, when he was arrested for attempting to cut down trees outside the Lampoon’s castle.)

Powers receives many portrait requests, but says he is hesitant to paint people since “I’d make them look more architectural, angular.” Which, he adds, is paradoxical. “I try to make a clock have a little bit of human emotion,” he says. His tendency to blur lines is evident as he compares his painting of architectural lamps to flowers and the side view of a clock to a cityscape.

Eighty percent of painting is the preparation, according to Powers, who will spend up to a week making the canvas for a piece. “The worst thing is making canvases,” he says. “You want to be out painting.” Nonetheless, he believes that the preparation is vital to the success of the painting, as is making the canvas an appropriate size for the piece instead of using whatever is already available. Once a canvas is ready, he will spend up to five weeks working on a painting, but prefers to paint in long sittings.

The key to a creating a good painting, besides being well rested, is “Not being worried about things looking a bit off,” says Powers, “If I overthink the meanings of the paintings then the paintings aren’t any good.” He likes to paint alone, and when painting outside tends to “wear headphones and scowl at anyone who comes within a hundred feet,” so as to avoid discussions with onlookers about unfinished pieces.

Of his audience, Powers says “You want to hit them over the head. You want to give them something they wouldn’t necessarily expect.”

Powers plans to continue animating the inanimate after graduation, when he will travel to Minnesota where there are big spaces, lots of industrial landscapes, and some great barns. Life after Harvard seems intimidating, but Powers intends to devote himself to painting. “I’m far too young to have a style, or any kind of way of painting,” he says, and he sees developing a unique approach as a time-intensive process. “I just try things out, see what works, see what doesn’t. It will probably take a whole life time.”

­—Kerry A. Goodenow