James Vining is a Brooklyn-born artist whose work explores the intersections between the horrific and the sublime. He studied film production and theory at SUNY Purchase and fine arts photography and art therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received his BFA in 2005.
His practice spans film, photography, poetry, and screenwriting, often exploring horror-based and spiritual themes, representations of disability, and the tension between interior and exterior worlds. In 2002, Vining held his first solo exhibition, New Mother, at Zeitgeist Gallery in Cambridge, MA, which examined maternal archetypes through both personal experience and broader cultural narratives.
In 2009, he earned his MSW from Hunter College School of Social Work and currently practices as a psychotherapist and school social worker in New York City. His dual engagement with art and psychoanalysis informs a body of work that investigates mutable identity, psychic boundaries, and the spaces between wounded and regenerative selves.
Currently Exhibiting in: Brooklyn, NY
Web: jamesviningphotography.net
Instagram: @jamesviningphotography
Vining’s photography is grounded in the here and now, even when images are staged. Drawing inspiration from Henri Cartier-Bresson, Nan Goldin, Larry Clark, and 1970s horror cinema, he uses photography as a tool to map interiority, desire, fear, and transformation.
Featured Artwork at Bushwick Gallery
Title: Grains of New York IV
Year of Creation: 2024
Medium: 35mm film, double exposure
Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 in
Edition Type: Edition of 5
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Price: $700
Description
Grains of New York IV explores interiority refracted through domestic space, capturing the tension between desire and restriction. Through 35mm film and double exposure, the image becomes a layered record of psychic states, revealing what sits beneath the visible surface.
The photograph is both intimate and disquieting, reflecting the artist’s ongoing investigation of the boundaries between the self and the other, between erotic dread and spiritual renewal.
Exhibition Information
Exhibition Title: Fractured Beauty: The Elegance of Imperfection
Curated by: Veronica de Oliveira Castro
Theme: This exhibition challenges the concept of perfection by embracing dissonance, flaws, and irregularity, capturing the allure of the broken, the incomplete, and the chaotic.
Exhibition Dates: October 23 – October 30, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 23, 2025 / 6 PM – 8 PM
Private Showings & Events: Invite-only throughout the week