'Modern-day Tinkerer’ - A review of the Work of James Rogers

Parraman, Carinna

Abstract

James Rogers’ work spans many dimensions and materials, drawing inspiration from ancient oracles and cosmical networks. His use of clay and wax, plates and inks, drawing robots, and extruders reflects these influences. According to James Rogers, everything is interconnected.

James Rogers embodies the spirit of a modern-day tinkerer, seamlessly merging ancient divination practices with contemporary technology and artistic exploration. His early memory of a parental tinkerer remained in his imagination; when his father, who worked as an electrician, attached the word 'bomb' to some electrical components that he had collected from the back of his van, including wires, a battery, a little clock screen, it was not something that could explode or without needing to know whether they worked; it inspired the young James, who spies and gadgets greatly influenced. Today, having learnt the technology through trial and error, Rogers can transform assemblages into fully functioning electronic components and robotic machines, oracles to access emerging electrical and cosmical networks, and the use of etching as a divination process.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 5, 2025
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2025
• Deposit Date: Apr 25, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 2, 2025
• Print ISSN: 0960-9253
• Publisher: Cello Press Limited
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: Spring
• Keywords: James Rogers, Cabinet of Curiosities
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/14328012
• Publisher URL: www.printmakingtoday.co.uk
• Other Repo URL: www.cellopress.co.uk