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London-based painter and writer Merlin James (born 1960) rejects the commonly held view that the making and criticism of art are incompatible, asserting that in fact they have a symbiotic relationship. Waging war on art’s immediacy or literalness, he writes about and makes art that supports attentiveness and difficulty in the face of art that would otherwise be the same as other forms of sensation or experience.

An associate editor at Burlington Magazine since 1997, James has exhibited at Whitechapel Gallery, London; the National Museum of Wales; and Thomas Korzelius Gallery, New York. He has written extensively on art and art criticism for Burlington Magazine, Times Literary Supplement, and other journals. His reviews of artists from Bob Thompson to Balthus to Francis Picabia have appeared recently in Burlington Magazine, New Criterion, and Times Literary Supplement.