James Anderson, a convict on San Quentin's Death Row, has more imminent problems than facing the executioner. He is going blind. He can't get the prison administration to approve the surgery  he needs to save his eyesight, which is preventing him from working on his appeal.
James has been incarcerated for a murder conviction since 1979. He is fairly typical of Death Row residents, since he is poor. black and was represented by an inexperienced and ill-prepared public defender. Rich, white people with high-priced attorneys are nonexistent on Death Row. James, out of dire necessity, has become an adept jailhouse lawyer. He has a good case for an appeal, and through years of research, has uncovered enough evidence and documents to fight his case. He wants to continue the fight, but severe headaches and progressive loss of vision are preventing him from doing just that. 
Two years ago, James had routine surgery for the removal of a cyst above his right eye.  Upon awakening from the anesthesia, he noticed an intern cleaning up some broken glass. This didn't alarm him at the time,  but weeks later he started developing headaches and blurred vision.  According to his medical records at San Quentin, "The patient, James Anderson, has a piece of glass imbedded in his forehead that may need to be removed"
For two years the headaches, loss of concentration and vision problems continued, while James, his eyesight deteriorating, fought for the necessary surgery.
In desperation, he decided to go public. "I know how the system works," James said in a telephone interview, "I think the media are my only hope."
Few people on the outside realize how inadequate the medical care is within the prison system. Medical care is  bad enough for poor people in general and it's not much more than a cruel joke for those being held in the so- called justice system. James can't work on his appeal to save his life without his eyesight.  Right now, he's in a desperate struggle to save his sight.   The loss of James's vision would be more than a tragedy, it would be a great loss to the world as well. He's a talented self-taught artist. His vivid paintings, done in acrylic on canvas, are hauntingly beautiful. They depict claustrophobic images of checkerboard floors, brick walls, layers of endless doors and keyholes, and ultimately, the city scapes and skyscenes of freedom. His work has been exhibited in several Bay Area galleries.  Through painting. James is able to communicate with the outside world.  James is hoping that those who care about human rights will support him by writing letters demanding that he receive the necessary surgery to remove the piece of glass from his forehead and therefore save his vision. Remember, James can't just walk out the door and go to a doctor. He is being held captive, in more ways than one.
Send letters to:

State Controller
Attn:  Kathleen Connell, 300 Capital Mall, # 1850, Sacramento, CA  95814  (916) 445-2636

· Warden: Arthur Calderon; San Quentin State Prison; San Quentin, CA 94964

· Northern District Court of California; Attention: Judge Maxine Mackler Chesney; 450 Golden Gate Avenue Box 36060; San Francisco, CA 94102

James Anderson's paintings art on exhibit in the following galleries:

· Kenya Impex International.
· Expressions Galley;
· Ethnic Trip Gallery;

You can Write to James at this address:
James Anderson
PO Box C 11400  2E66
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California
94974  USA
Death Row Artists Are Now A Hot Item
by Gregory Lewis, Examiner Staff
August 31, 1997 - San Francisco Examiner

Inmates' work sell fast, especially at black art galleries, where prices soar as execution looms.
OAKLAND- Like New York apartment hunters who read the obituaries to find living quarters, some art dealers are signing up death row inmates in order to buy their art low and sell it high.  "Death row art is the fastest selling art we've ever had," said Eric Dupree of San Francisco's African American Historical and Cultural Society at Fort Mason.  "Beyond cliché, the art is extraordinary.  Pieces that sell for $300 to $400, after their execution dates come up, go up to $4000."
"In fact, its selling so fast we also had to include Lifers at Solano to keep the museum walls stocked," Dupree said.
Suddenly some art dealers and collectors are showing up at formerly obscure

Almost a year ago I received a letter stamped on the front in red in big letters "San Quentin Prison". It did not surprise me. I've gotten letters from inmates before. All of them were beautifully written, in perfect English, flawless handwriting. All of them told me what a wonderful job I was doing with the kids in the projects, teaching art and video.
Many of the letters also told me how much of a woman I am, and they would like to see me when they get out. If they had only met a woman like me before, they would not be in this mess....
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But this particular letter from San Quentin was different.  Like the others, James Anderson also praised me for my work with kids. He said he had been trying to reach me since he saw the kids from the Hayes Valley Housing Projects and myself on "Home Turf," a young people's program on KRON in 1992, dealing with inner-city youth.
Then he saw me later that year receive a "Those Who Care" award from KRON, and tried to reach me again with no success. In January 1 994 a video I mode called "R.l.P." documenting destruction due to crack cocaine was aired on KOED's "Living Room Festival."   Two weeks later I received a phone call, a collect phone call.
I didn't know a James, but I did know he knew who he was calling. He noticed my hesitation and quickly blurted out past the operator, "I am an artist." With that I accepted the call.
Like the letter, he said all the same things, but fast, as if he were in a speed talking contest. He told me about his art and that there were artists with him that were good. He asked if there was a way I could give them exposure. I asked if he and the other artists would like to exhibit their work at Ethnic Trip. He said yes.
Since there was so much he didn't want to say over the phone, like why he was in prison and so on,he asked if I would visit. I told him I would think about it, and I did.
James Anderson curated the exhibition from within the prison. Six artists in all exhibited.
His own art showed prison, the institution: the checker board floors, the layers of neverending doors, the brick walls and the tiny figure with a hole where his heart should be. His paintings are in acrylic on canvas. In his art one can see patience, each line perfectly straight, each circle perfectly round and centered. Makes me feel like "I don't wanna be there."
Jay Siripongs is from Thailand. His paintings are also acrylic on canvas. His paintings are of women. One of his paintings shows a woman standing facing a brick wall. The wall and the woman seem alone. When you blink you can separate the two, sort of like one of those prizes you get out of the Cracker Jack box. Turn it this way and it looks like this; turn it that way and it looks like that.
Kenneth B. Haley draws in oil pastels and chalk. His drawings are somewhat mystical. They remind me of the 70s. His black women have Afros and a queenlike appearance. But he also has on display a drawing of the Rodney King incident which is definitely not mystical. It's titled No More Stars and Stripes.
Tayto Wailda is from Finland. He's called Finn. Finn draws in pencil and pastels. He is, in my opinion, an excellent figure drawer. He can even draw hands. One of his drawings is of a woman's torso with the ocean waters as a background. The colors and the curves make you feel that you are there; you can almost hear the sounds of waves. Could it be because San Quentin sits by the ocean?
Randy Cash is an American Indian. His art shows his culture. He draws in colored pencil, leaving a lot of white space. One can see he holds the pencil lightly. Scenes of mountains, sky and soaring eagles surrounds the flying horse.
And last there is Alfred Dyer, Sr. His wife brought his paintings in. She was very pleasant and presented his art professionally, framed, with write-up, agreement, price and title. Alfred's paintings are acrylic on canvas board. His art shows family and friends some with faces, some without. He draws them with perfect lines and positions. The women are drawn with healthy builds, beautifully dressed and standing with class.
The exhibit was an interesting show to curate.
Having the artists about the art was be absent was a first for me.  Talking about the art was not as hard as talking about the artists.  Most people would ask, "Why are they in jail ?"  My response, "I don't know and I don't care to know."  To me, it doesn't matter because whether I know or not, the art would still be on exhibit, giving the artists exposure for their work.  My feelings are, even though the artists may be locked up,  it doesn't mean their art has to be.

From the Times Tribune  Friday, August 9, 1985

ART - In the Shadow of Death - Death Row Artist Reflects Life Situations
By Carlos Vidal Greth
Times Tribune Staff

The relationship between artists James P. Anderson and Bruni Sabian proves that not even steel bars, high walls, barbed wire, and armed guards can keep two determined friends apart.
Its an understatement to say they make an unlikely pair.  Anderson is a convict who has spent 5 1 /2 years on death row in San Quentin Prison.  Sabian owns a gallery, the Old Town Art Centre, in Los Gatos.
It was a common passion for painting that first united them.  "Its beautiful that art is so powerful that it can bring together two people as different as James and I," Sabian said.
Anderson came into her life when his penpal, Los Altos Hills president Frank Matz walked into her gallery with several of Anderson's paintings.
Matz said he got involved with Anderson because he felt Anderson needed a friend "who wouldn't judge or critizise."  After Anderson sent him a number of his paintings, Matz realized they showed considerable talent and contacted Sabian.
She was impressed by the raw power of the works, which now hang on one of the art centre's walls.
When Sabian first saw his work, she said, she "immediately got the message.  He is physically bound, but his soul is free.  I knew that because in almost every painting there is a small white bird that has escaped. "
Its been marvelous for James to have a woman show interest in him, "  Matz said. "The relationship with Bruni has strengthened his will to paint - even his will to be."
 Its summertime at San Quentin again, blood and bodies everywhere, The Devil's own pit, the valley of sun, watch your back and soon beware - Anonymous poem circulated among prisoners.
A visit to Anderson is a visit to another world where different rules and laws apply.
The first law you learn is that you don't wear denims or denim-coloured clothing.  The second is that you never, never run.
"The guards have been known to shoot at any moving blue object," an officer at the gate warned.
In a conference room within the confines of a crenelated, fortress-like building, Anderson sat comfortably under the striped light falling from two barred windows.  His handshake and wiry build indicated regular workouts in the death row gym.
If you look closely, you can glimpse an ironic glint behind the tinted glasses and smoke from innumerable cigarettes.  He is bright, aware, humorous and cautious, sometimes all at the same time.
Before coming to San Quentin, Anderson, 32, found a creative outlet in playing bass guitar in rhythm and blues bands  and writing poetry.
He started painting three years ago when he was inspired by a TV movie.  "I paint things that I think people should know, the stuff thats inside of them," he said,  "I try to reflect life situations - risks, opportunities, and potential."
Some of his paintings are claustrophobic and have the air of a bad dream; others are inspirational and brightened by a spot of hope.  All show tremendous control, as if every brushstroke represents a different thought.
A comment element is a tiled corridor the viewer follows toward a window or sunlight, perhaps representing freedom.
"A man can either be coming in or leaving it," Anderson said.  "Its a circle.  All people regardless of who they are have their own prison. Depends on their attitude."
"I don't focus on San Quentin in my art, though of course, I can never forget where I am."
He said that he finds it difficult to concentrate in the prison environment, because there are so many things he wants to do and can't.  "This is the dullest place I've ever been in my life." He said.
Otherwise, Anderson insisted that he hasn't let San Quentin get to him.
"My outlook hasn't changed," he said, "Believe me, thats a job."
"I'd be doing the same kinds of paintings if I was outside, though I might occasionally do a forest or something."
He said he feels that death row, where he currently lives with 33 other prisoners, is one of the more "laid back" comfortable parts of the prison.
Anderson was sentenced to death on October 23, 1979.  He was convicted of a double killing in Riverside County, Calif.  The case is currently on appeal.
Anderson said he gets along well with the other prisoners, who call him "Professor", "Mr. Wizard", and "Doc", because he is interested in art and doesn't watch much television.
Above all, he was enthusiastic about Bruni Sabian.
"She's a very talented artist and a great inspiration," he said, "I'm very choosy.  I can't accept anything from a woman unless she's ambitious, understanding, and knows who she is."
Forgive me for believing in you in all your thoughts and words, from the start, and for conceiving that our minds could grow together although our bodies would be so far apart."
---"Forgive Me,"  James P. Anderson,  May 25, 1984.
Sabian and Anderson write each other every week.
"Perhaps he opened up to me because I'm from Brazil," Sabian, a San Jose resident, said.  "Its another world, just like where he lives is another world."
In one letter, Anderson asked her what her most precious possession was.
"I told him it was my soul," Sabian said, "He wrote back that for him, it was time.  Most of us walk around with all the time in the world.  Its so sad."
On a recent afternoon, while a small portable radio plays Miles Davis, Sabian sat on a worn, comfortable couch  in her small office reading several of Anderson's letters to herself.
"I write to him about the things I do, and he sort of lives his life through me," Sabian said.  "Sometimes I tell James I lock myself in the basement here and paint day and night..."

 CENTER FOR PARTNERSHIP RENASCENCE
 
BREAKING THE RULES:            INSIDERS AND OUTSIDERS
 
 
JAMES  ANDERSON,  our cover artist, writes:

I have often given critical thought to the language used to describe the many forms of art, as well as the artists themselves, as it and they are so often  critiqued by those who have little true knowledge of either subject.  This certainly applies to the term Insider/Outsider Art.  
The  mainstream appears simply to reject the reality of these artists and their work reflecting the landscapes of their souls, experiences, thoughts, dreams, emotions  and visions. Being an INSIDE OUTER myself I often incorporate spiritual symbolic representations to reflect conscious realities.  For example, conventional thought   would conclude that a simple brick wall would  represent containment or confinement of some kind.  However, a holistic or spiritually connected person could (and in most cases would) view  each brick as being one part of the whole - an individual person, each separate and different yet the same.
Over the past year or so, I've become more and more aware that more often than not, the true essence of many of my own works in which there are black and white tiled floors or walkways, the immediate conscious perception is that of an artist who subscribes to the dualism doctrine.  With this immediate perception in mind, I feel obliged as a humanist and artist to clarify my conscious position, in that the dominator effect is only a reflection of a reality that does unfortunately  exist and thrive, as a result of being diligently perpetrated upon the consciousness of the  populace in an effort to maintain, not only control of how we (individually and collectively) think, but the subjects, matters, issues, etc. of ponder as well.
Of course, one or the many benefits of art is its freedom of interpretation, yet we must always be mindful that our "individual absolute truth" cannot be universally applied by any stretch of the imagination.  I'd truly prefer to think and believe that my works reflect the birth of our awareness through our individual day to day struggles and subjective realities, and as we journey through this three dimensional level of conciousness, we all become more holistically aware that we are truly "all in this together."

James P.  Anderson
P0 Box  C 11400   2E66
San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin, California
94974
                            ***************************************

My husband Gary and I became acquainted with James through purchase of three of his paintings at a gallery special exhibit in Santa Rosa.  They are among the finest examples of Outsider Art I have seen "outside" the established folk traditions.  His ink drawing on the cover does not fully convey the intense emotional impact of the juxtaposition of black-and-white against symbolic color in his meticulously crafted paintings.  His artists bio is available from CPR.

                    **************************************************
                                    TRAILING CLOUDS OF GLORY:
                                 BEYOND NATURE AND NURTURE
 

When I asked James Anderson to design a cover for last months DIALOGUE he sent two designs.  I had no trouble choosing one, reprinted here.  The other design is on this months cover.  James has done a great job depicting critical thinking as it is stated in imagist language- to go beyond black or white and look for the gray in between.  This image is disturbing, uncomfortable to look at; who on earth would want to live in such a world?  Obviously not James.  He has included his spirit symbol, the bird, in the area representing God or a rising awareness, but the human figure is missing - gone.  Reluctance to inhabit this black-white-gray world exactly mirrors the reluctance of most people to inhabit the sterile world of rationalist thinking, defined falsely as critical thinking.  This issue will introduce a label that reflects partnership thinking, "sensible reasoning" which includes human feelings, graphically interpreted in the miniature.  Thanks, James.
 

 Return To James Anderson's Homepage
 

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