A modernist sculptor of delicate seeming wooden objects of intriguing designs, James Surles also does drawing and prints that feature natural and human images and forms.
He carves, whittles and stains his objects, but creating a monotone effect, rarely paints them but sometimes burns images into them. Some of his works are large, as much as nine-feet tall.
Surls earned a B.S. degree from Sam Houston University and an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. In 1998, he moved from Splendora, Texas to Carbondale, Colorado.
In 2009, five sculptures, made of bronze and steel, were set up on Park Avenue by the New York City Parks Public Art Program. His work has been shown in major New York museums including the Whitney, Guggenheim, and Museum of Modern Art. His work is in numerous public collections.
East Texas native James Surls is among the most acclaimed Texas artists of the late twentieth century and has found great success outside the state, as well. Surls' sculptures are most inspired by nature but also reveal metaphorical and mythological content.
In a 2009 catalog for The Grace Museum in Abilene, Texas, Patterson Sims wrote that Surl's works are "studies of myths, science, and human behavior."
After graduating from Sam Houston State University and The Cranbrook Academy of Art, he taught at Southern Methodist University and later at the University of Houston and the Lawndale Art Center, Houston.
Surl's work is held in many museum collections, and he has had numerous solo exhibitions, including the Dallas Museum of Art in 1984 and The Meadows Art Museum, Dallas, in 2003.
