ABOUT K. JAMES AND THEIR WORK

K. James is a multidisciplinary artist. Their images, videos, and sculptures center on the dynamic world of professional wrestling to explore intimacy, consent, boundaries, and violence. Since graduating from Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, James has returned to their home state of Texas. Based in Austin, they made countless two-hour drives to San Antonio several times a week to build trust with various independent wrestling promotions— by working odd jobs, building props and sets, designing posters and merch, and photographing training sessions and matches. James’s devoted immersion earned them unprecedented camaraderie and behind-the-scenes access to this imperfect but beloved community. They are now a key member of the Austin-based Uncanny Attractions production team.

"Choreographed, rehearsed, and fake" are common misconceptions about the action and interplay inside a professional wrestling ring. While the level of communication varies, improvisation is ever-present. Wrestlers rely on each other’s decisions and responses for the match to be both safe and exciting. This sets professional wrestling apart from other combat sports, where the focus shifts from sheer violence and domination to storytelling and protection— a place where creativity and consent are prerequisites.

Set within the spoken and unspoken rules and permissions of wrestling, James’s work is a physical and conceptual study of trust and vulnerability— a risky, exposed place where so much is gruelingly earned and so easily lost. They saturate their paintings with these themes through tightly cropped compositions of entangled bodies covered in sweat, blood, and spandex. The figures are simultaneously tender and tough. In these fraught embraces, their work considers the dynamic complexities and contradictions of consent.

EXHIBITION RUN

• June 13 - September 5, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION

• Friday June 13, 2025 4 - 8 PM

GALLERY HOURS

• Monday through Friday, 11 am - 4 pm.

The Rotunda Gallery is located on RMCAD’s campus at 1600 Pierce Street, Denver, CO 80214.

JUNE 13 - SEPTEMBER 5, 2025

ABOUT THE ROTUNDA GALLERY

The Rotunda Gallery focuses on exhibitions featuring work by the RMCAD faculty, alumni, and local artists and designers in one of the college’s most unique buildings.