(b. 1946) James Drake is an international artist who was born in Lubbock, Texas, and raised in Guatemala, Mexico and El Paso. He received both his B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. He currently lives and works in Santa Fe, N.M.

Drake works in a variety of media, including drawing, sculpture, photography, video and installation. In all media, he consistently explores imagery relating to social issues, art history, weaponry and the fine line between savagery and civilization. His work is often allegorical and visceral, yet visually seductive. He is a master draftsman who typically works in black and white, a throwback to his days of watching old films as a kid in Lubbock.

Drake recognized an affinity for drawing at an early age and has spent his entire life honing his craft. He spends every day of the week making art and admits he doesn’t have any hobbies outside his work. He chooses to focus on figures in his art because they are a continuation of history and a plentiful source of subject matter. He is also fascinated by numbers and mark making. “Numbers measure everything—our years, time. They are incredibly important in human life. Without numbers you have no math; without math you have no civilization; without civilization we wouldn’t be sitting here.

Drake’s work may be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; the Brooklyn Museum of Art, N.Y.; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, N.Y.