James Downie Overview

James Downie was born in 1949 but did not begin painting full time until 1989. He began by working in the building industry in Manchester, his hometown, which comes through in the industrial art that he then produced. His art is strongly influenced by the architecture and people of the city, specifically as it all was in the 1950s and 1960s, and by the work of L. S. Lowry. Downie’s references to the recent past give his artworks a retro quality, which proves popular with audiences. Another distinctive characteristic of Downie’s work is the reoccurring image of a man with his dog, found within the majority of his artworks and a contributing factor to the nostalgia that his work evokes. Downie and his studio are now situated down in Cornwall, but the artist frequently returns to Manchester for the inspiration that he finds there for new works.