Fragments by James Jean NFT Overview

Fragments is a series of 7,000 NFTs by James Jean and are the artist’s first PFP project. Fragments are commissioned by Outland, with technical support provided by Zora.

James Jean is renowned for his painterly aesthetic which ranges from expressionistic to precise rendering and incorporates techniques from art-historical traditions, including Baroque painting to Japanese woodblock prints and Chinese silk scroll paintings. Jean has been the subject of solo exhibitions at Kaikai Kiki Gallery, Tokyo (2018); and Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul (2019); amongst others. Jean has also collaborated with Prada, BTS, and film directors Darren Aronofsky and Guillermo del Toro.

The series is entirely hand-drawn and presents a series of fantastical characters that are distilled from the artist’s imagination. What Jean describes as “mythic beings”, each character bears a unique persona on a pentagonal frame in his signature psychedelic color palette. Fragments feature visual elements that have appeared within Jean’s works throughout his career, including his interest in the painting traditions of European, Chinese, and Japanese old Masters, and so offer a retrospective exploration of his artistic practice.

Fragments are inspired by Pagoda, a forthcoming large-scale, luminous architectural pavilion that is the culmination of four years of collaborative projects between Jean and Judson Studios, an LA-based art glass studio founded over 120 years ago. Fragments will exist on the blockchain as a means of eternalizing Jean’s forthcoming physical work in the digital realm—the edition size represents the 7,000 pieces of glass required to build Pagoda.