James Owens was born with gasoline in

his veins.

Born and raised in Detroit MI, America’s

rich history of the automobile runs deep

in his family. “Half my family worked in

the auto industry. Both my grandfathers

worked in the industry. On my mother’s

side, my grandfather went to work for

Ford Motor Company in the late 20’s.

That was even before they opened the

massive Rouge River Plant. My dad

retired from Ford, my brother designs for General Motors and my cousins are employed by the big three.”

Jim earned his BFA in 1986 from The Center for Creative Studies in Detroit MI. For nearly two decades he worked with some of the biggest ad agencies in the world creating story boards and finished illustrations for Ford, Chrysler, General Motors as well as AAA, Philips Electronics, Dupont, Home and Gardens Television and Dreamworks.

Although trained as a product illustrator, doing airbrushed cutaways of shock absorbers was not his idea of fun. “I prefer paintings that have some human element in them. I want to see the artists brush and choices on the canvas.”

Recent work has included a series of paintings combining his love for Cars and Film Noir. Full of dames that are sweet and deadly, and cars with big trunks, Jim refers to them as “Car-Noir”.

Today Jim works out of his studio in Burbank CA where the sun always shines, birds always sing and all the little hot-rodders are happy.