Merlin James' quietly textured oeuvre is informed by a deep understanding of the painted medium, its material history, and deployment across a range of formal and representational sub-genres. Working neither directly from life nor from photographs, James draws on impressions and memories over time to inflect a quiet resonance in familiar subject matter. Scenes of vernacular architecture, interior spaces, riverside landscapes, and sexual intimacy are formed within a gauzy narrative of "cumulative memory," incorporating all the approximations and inaccuracies of recollection.