Artist

Mah, James

Title

Rush Hour

Technique

intaglio

Date

2005

Dimensions

66.0cm height x 48.3cm width

Type

print

Accession Number

2014.16.2

Owner

City of Burnaby

Collection

Permanent Collection

James Mah was born in China in 1949. When he was six, his family immigrated to Saskatchewan. He was fortunate to have had teachers that encouraged him in the arts and soon decided it was the career path for him. Mah entered the University of Saskatchewan and took some painting classes with Donald McNamee. In 1969, he studied drawing and design, most memorably with Lawrence Kristmanson and Fred Amess at the Alberta College of Art. Mah declined his scholarship at ACAD and decided to enter the School of Architecture at UBC. He emerged with an architectural degree in 1975 and an architectural licence some years later. He worked in the Vancouver Planning Department, in commercial Interior Design and with various architectural firms. He left the profession in 1989 to return to the easel. His printmaking studies include an etching class with Orville Fisher at the Vancouver School of Art and later with Lone Tratt at the Dundarave Print Workshop. His monotypes portraying the Greek myths were shown at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. He had a show of figurative paintings at the now-defunct Torres Gallery. His last major show was at the Richmond Art Gallery where he presented his oil paintings based on the themes of water and rain.