1979年出生于中国台湾，并在3岁时随家人移居美国，曾就读于纽约视觉艺术学院，并于2001年取得艺术学位。简明的艺术风格游走在东西方美学之间，致力于当代题材与中国传统卷轴画、日本木版画、文艺复兴时期肖像画、西非化妆面具、漫画和迷幻艺术等不同来源的美学技巧相融合。通过对不同风格和艺术史流派的实践，简明描绘复杂的宇宙世界中个人的广泛体验与感受。同时，他善于从当代文化和古老寓言中提取意象，并加以想象塑造出他的神话王国。
绘画是简明在创作中叙事的核心，他引用了在乔威特洞穴中发现的意象，并以此为精神导向，将该意象灌注在他的素描书中。素描书中的图画是从记忆和想象中提炼而出，揭示了思维之眼和绘图之间不断变化的对话，重叠的线条则充满了节奏感。在美国的早年间，简明在东西方相对抗的文化环境中努力的找寻自己身份，并渐渐走向一个仿佛在不同世界间漂浮的分裂的自我。简明在19世纪意大利耶稣会画家郎世宁身上找到了相似的例子，郎世宁曾在中国担任宫廷画师，而他的作品体现了东西方风格的突破性融合，他将西方的渲染技术引入中国传统的丝绸卷轴画，从而实现了远超宫廷要求的独特风格和构图。与此相类似，简明通过挖掘流行文化和神秘文化的不同方面，用传统技法和当代数字技术相结合创造了独树一帜的混合叙事风格。
Born in Taiwan, China, in 1979 and moved to the United States with his family at the age of three. He attended the School of Visual Arts in New York and obtained a degree in art in 2001. Jean's artistic style navigates between Eastern and Western aesthetics, dedicating to blending contemporary subjects with the aesthetic techniques derived from Chinese traditional scroll paintings, Japanese woodblock prints, Renaissance portraiture, West African ceremonial masks, comics, and psychedelic art. Through engaging with various styles and historical art movements, Jean depicts the complex universe of individual experiences and emotions. At the same time, he is adept at extracting imagery from contemporary culture and ancient fables, imaginatively crafting his mythological kingdom.
Painting serves as the narrative core in James Jean's creative endeavors, drawing inspiration from imagery discovered within the Chauvet Cave as a spiritual guide, infusing such imagery into his sketchbooks. The drawings in these sketchbooks are distilled from memory and imagination, unveiling a dynamic dialogue between the mind's eye and the act of drawing, where overlapping lines brim with rhythm. In his early years in the United States, Jean navigated the opposing cultural forces of East and West in search of his identity, gradually moving towards a fragmented self that seemed to float between different worlds. Jean found a parallel in the 19thcentury Italian Jesuit painter Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining), who served as a court painter in China and whose work represented a groundbreaking fusion of Eastern and Western styles. He introduced Western shading techniques into traditional Chinese silk scroll painting, achieving a unique style and composition that far exceeded the court's expectations. Similarly, Jean has forged a distinctive hybrid narrative style by exploring various facets of pop and mystic cultures, merging traditional techniques with contemporary digital technology.
