James Gulliver Hancock grew up in Sydney, Australia, and in kindergarten remembers devising the most complex image he could think of … In school he discovered technical drawing. He has always been obsessed with machines and the way things work and rendering the meeting of tiny screws in perfect perspective was a delight. His favourite tool was the mechanical pencil that could change between .25, .5 and .3 thickness lines. His ability to visualize 3d shapes and perspective in his head and draw them on paper drove him to continue to explore the medium. This is now married with a love of colour, paint, and controlled mess as well as connecting it to deeper conceptual and philosophical meaning.
He Studied Visual Communications at the University of Technology, Sydney. Graduating with the University Medal and Honours. In 2000 he stared a gallery in Sydney, Australia called SPACE3 ,with three friends, which welcomed artists in the local community to exhibit in an ornate bank vault. The publishing of a 200 page hardcover book marked the end of 5 years of curating new art in Sydney.
He has traveled extensively including an overland journey from Sydney to London via S.E. Asia, China, Japan, Russia and Europe. Rolling in a typhoon in the sea between Japan and Russia he wondered how he’d save his sketchbook when the ship sank. He undertook artist residencies all over Europe and most recently has been in America where he has worked for a wide variety of high profile clients. These include Dell Computers, Coca-Cola, Businessweek Magazine, The New York Times, Simon&Schuster, Herman Miller etc… To which he brings his whimsical skill in mediums of illustration, animation and design.
Currently he works out of studios in The Pencil Factory in Brooklyn, New York, and from his homeland studio in Sydney, Australia.
You may know his work from his project www.allthebuildingsinnewyork.com
