Press
Robert Rauschenberg • James Macdonell and the Problem of Making Sense
By MARK LEAVENS February 5, 2026
Art criticism tries to define an artwork’s movement, lineage, and history, yet some practices resist this by intentionally avoiding a stable definition. Rauschenberg and James Macdonell’s work belong here, calling for attention to process: how meaning forms, slips, and reforms over time. Considering them together highlights a shared commitment to thinking through experience without resolving it into doctrine, nor equivalence or influence.
The Artist’s Studio: James Macdonell and ‘The Connective Tissue’
By TERRENCE SANDERS-SMITH
I first met James Macdonell through a mutual friend, Andres Villamil. It was the mid-nineties, SoHo, New York City. At the time, James was a working musician known as Jimmy Mac who was the lead singer of the band Loup Garou. As a musician he was well-respected, working with other noted musicians such as Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Paul Simon, Bryan Ferry, Robert Palmer, David Byrne, and Johnny Sayles.
James Macdonell: Safe Passage Ohr O’Keefe Museum of Art
By ADAM FALIK April 1, 2025
The function is not how to make meaning, but how to examine it. For a while, artistic intent was all that was necessary. By virtue of being an artist, an object is transformed into art. Ok, we accept that, if the now-transformed object is freshly invigorated with meaning it previously did not contain. If we agree that there is such a thing as meaning, then the art object should possess it, and we, who seek an experience from the art object, should be able to read that meaning. Reasonable enough…