JAMES BAMA - Feb. 2010

" HOLY MAN - HOLY CITY "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
18" x 23"
$545

“This is one of my favorite paintings because of the combination
of the location and the subject,” says James Bama. “I had the
chance to attend two different ceremonies this holy man performed.
He’s a Crow Indian and a member of the Whistling Water Clan.
The Crow are the only plains tribe with a clan system. I think
there are about ten different clans in the tribe and the
Whistling Water Clan is the largest. That makes him a very
important person in Crow society and an impressive subject
to paint.”
“The Holy City is a lava formation about eight miles from my
house. It is in the Bighorn National Forest, which leads into
Yellowstone National Park. The same volcanic activity that
created Yellowstone’s landscape formed these. They are very
dramatic. Putting the two together made a great deal of sense
to me because they are both such moving subjects. At first take,
one would think that they represent two very different
kinds of inspiration, but the more you think about it, the
more you realize they actually belong together.”

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - July 2009

" BUFFALO BILL - 4TH OF JULY "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
18" x 18"
$475

For James Bama, moving to Wyoming from New York City
proved to be, perhaps, one of the finest career choices he ever
made.“I paint people,” says Jim. “When I first moved out here,
folks were still alive that lived here before Wyoming was even
a state. The frontier was still alive. I would go to pow-wows,
rodeos, the reservations and even rendezvous to seek these
people out. No one was focusing then on painting real people
as I did.”
Buffalo Bill is obviously a larger than life figure in Cody,
WY and this painting is the result of re-enactor Charlie Evans
from North Platte, NE appearing in a 4th of July parade.
“Charlie was coming down the street and there was a group of
children in front of me. He had stopped to say hello to them
and they were just thrilled. The original Buffalo Bill probably
did the exact thing on the same street 100 years before.”

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - JAN. 2009

" CROW INDIAN WITH PEACE PIPE "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
17" x 21"
$595

James Bama met Henry Bright Wings during a medicine
ceremony performed in the tepee of a Crow medicine man
in Wyola, Montana. He was then 68. Bama liked his classic face,
which he thought would have been appropriate on a buffalo nickel.
When Bright Wings visited Old Trail Town in Cody, Wyoming
several years later, Bama dressed him in historical costume
including a pre-1900 headdress and a very old buffalo robe from
the Old Trail Town Museum in Cody.
In earlier times the right to wear a headdress had to be earned,
usually in battle. Today even women and children sometimes
wear a showy nontraditional war bonnet for pow-wow dance
parades and celebrations. Many men feel that their age is
entitlement enough, but others will not wear a headdress
because they do not consider it their proper. Bama met a
Pine Ridge Reservation Indian who would not pose in a
headdress even though he was 45 years old and certainly looked
venerable enough. During the Indian Wars of the post-Civil
War years, Bright Wings’ people, the Crows, frequently
allied themselves with the military against such traditional
enemies as the Sioux and the Cheyenne. Crow scouts rode to
their deaths with Custer.

 

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 2008

" 1880's STILL LIFE OF SADDLE & RIFLE "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
9" x 16"
$295

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - SEPT. 2008

" HERITAGE "

100 s/n Giclee Canvas 20" x 20"$695
1500 s/n Paper 20.5" x 20.5" $459

Though Lloyd Chavez is a Mountain Ute, he poses here with
traditional Shoshone Indian accoutrements. Artist James Bama
found him to be a particularly striking model and painted him
four times over the years, here with a sparrow hawk tied in his
hair, a seashell necklace draped across his neck and a deerskin
quiver slung across his back. The animal hide stretched behind
Chavez is covered in paintings depicting Indian dances, a
buffalo hunt and a captured American flag.

In the absence
of a written language, such paintings recorded events in the
life of an individual or family. Sometimes the paintings were
done in calendar style, visually recounting the highlights of
each passing year. The paintings often decorated a warrior’s
tepee, so that all who passed could recognize the great
deeds of the warrior within.

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 2008

" THE PAWNEE "

125 s/n Giclee Canvas
15" x 19"
$545

James Bama has derived a great deal of joy from the friendships
he has developed with many of the Native American subjects
of his portraits. Years ago, he discovered that on a personal level,
they are often very different from the confrontational image
they often project. For example, Wes Studi, a full-blooded
Cherokee, established an impressive screen-acting career with
his intense portrayals of a Pawnee war-party leader in Dances
with Wolves and as the vengeful Magua in The Last of the
Mohicans, yet Bama found him genial and obliging. During their
visits to the Bama home, Studi and his children often spent
happy hours playing basketball with the artist and his son.
The cultural gap was bridgedas two fathers enjoyed time
with their children.

JAMES BAMA - MAR. 2008

" POW-WOW SINGER "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
11" x 11"
$245

Pow-wow participants pride themselves on the finest of
regalia, particularly for the dances and parades. In their
workday lives, the participants may be clerks in a supermarket
or gas station attendants. For one day each year, however,
they are resplendent in buckskin and beadwork, in bright
feathers and blankets more colorful than were known by
the ancestors they revere and whose image they set out
to create. This evocative piece follows on the heels of
Bama's wildly successful Pow-Wow Dancer, which
is Sold Out at Publisher.

 

 

JAMES BAMA - JAN. 2008

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 2007

" POW-WOW DANCER "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
25" x 15"
$1188

“This pow-wow dancer and his wife were hired to dance
on Native American Day at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center
in Cody, Wyoming. The museum staff told me about this
great-looking guy. He agreed to pose for me and I photographed
him right in front of the museum.”
James Bama’s modern realism approaches the larger-than-life
romance of the West from a new angle. The subjects of his
portraits are real people, doing real work, with the history
of generations past written in their faces and the
surrounding landscapes.

JAMES BAMA - SEPT. 2007

" YOUNG INDIAN DANCER "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
12" x 9"
$245

This boy is one of four Arapaho brothers who danced at
a festival. From the badges on his shirt (hand-made from
snapshots of his family) to the unique markings on his face,
the young dancer is a perfect example of Native American
youth today. Young Indian Dancer is a natural partner to
Indian Boy at Crow Fair, Bama’s last SmallWorkTM,
which featured another of the four dancing brothers.

 

 

JAMES BAMA - MAY 2007

" HEADING FOR THE HIGH GROUND "

100 s/n Giclee Canvas
18" x 24"
$745

To create the scene that would become Heading for Higher Ground,
artist James Bama called upon his friend Jim
Williams.
Williams, says Bama, is a “real modern-day mountain man.
He used to trap and he lived in the Southwest in a cave.
He had an old-fashioned porcelain bathtub and all that you
would expect. He’s a terrific guy.” With Williams signed on to
model for the painting, they traveled to nearby Rimrock Dude
Ranch to borrow a horse for the day.
James Bama’s portraits of the denizens of the Southwest are
renowned for their touching combination of Old West valor
and modern reality. With Heading for Higher Ground,
Bama hearkens back to both a legendary time, and a time
that could have been only yesterday.

 

JAMES BAMA - APRIL 2007

" INDIAN BOY AT CROW FAIR "

75 s/n Giclee Canvas
13" x 9"
Email-price

Crow Fair, held every summer, comprises the largest annual gathering of North American Indians. It lasts for five days and is attended by some ten thousand Indians who set up a thousand tepees. There are parades, rodeo events and horseracing. Drumming and dancing continue far into the early morning hours.
This boy was one of four Arapaho brothers from the Wind River reservation who danced at the fair. His distinctive costume and face paint represent his personal creativity and individual style.

 

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 2006

" BLACK ELK'S GREAT GRANDSON "

100 s/n Giclee Canvas
20" x 20"
$750

Clifton DeSerca, a Sioux, lives and works in the modern world but has strong ties to the last days of the free-roaming horseback Native American of the plains. His great-grandfather was Black Elk, a Sioux holy man whose autobiography is considered one of the most important pieces of Native American literature. As a young man, Black Elk participated in the battle of the Little Big Horn. In his older years, he told his story to John G. Neihardt who translated it into the classic Black Elk Speaks. DeSerca serves his people by being involved in a reservation outreach program working with alcoholics. He is portrayed here wearing a Sioux headdress and a historic shirt from the trading-post period.

 

 

JAMES BAMA - MAY 2006

"CONTEMPORARY SIOUX INDIAN "

150 s/n Giclee Canvas 20" x 30" $950
1000 s/n Paper 19" x 29" $1399

The distinctive portraits of James Bama have earned him the respect of art collectors and critics worldwide. The focus of Contemporary Sioux Indian is Oglala Sioux Wendy Irving, a modern-day Indian whose choker necklace, ribbon shirt and braids wrapped in otter skin indicate that he clings to the traditions of his people, yet finds himself caught between two worlds. To give the painting a contemporary flavor Bama placed him against a peeling wall that warns, "No Parking, Violators Towed Away," suggesting that the Indian does not fit in the white man's affluent neighborhood." These are sophisticated young Indians, very aware of what is going on," says Bama." They are not about to sit back passively and endure injustices. They seem limited in what they can do other than become educated and find a niche in the white man's world where their old ways have been accorded little or no place."

 

JAMES BAMA - FEB. 2006

" WAITING FOR THE GRAND ENTRY "

150 s/n Giclee Canvas
23" x 18"
$850

Every rodeo begins with a grand entry as the contestants and other riders follow the flag bearers in a serpentine course across the arena. At a junior rodeo in Cody, artist James Bama spotted Kenny Claybaugh waiting for the grand entry and was struck by the colorful combination of the yellow slicker, American flag and the dark glasses. Regarded as one of the sport’s top pickup men, Claybaugh worked the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada, among many others. It is the pickup man’s duty to rescue a rider from a pitching bronc after the required seconds have elapsed and the horn is blown to signal a completed ride. It is a highly responsible task demanding skill and nerve, as a misstep can result in a rider’s falling and perhaps being trampled or slammed against an ungiving fence.The pickup horse must also be well trained so that it does not fear moving in close to the bronc’s flying hoofs and does not shy away as pickup man and bronc rider reach for one another.

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 2005

" BUCK NORRIS - CROSS SABRES RANCH "

150 s/n Giclee Canvas 20" x 20" $950
1000 s/n Paper 19" x 19" Email-price

“Wyoming, the Cowboy State, conjures images of wide open spaces, cattle ranches, wild mustangs and rugged men in boots and Stetsons,” says artist James Bama.“I had known Buck Norris for many years, he was a strong, quiet man who worked with his parents, owners of the oldest ranch on the North Fork of the Shoshone River west of Cody.The day I finally visited this cowboy and trapper to use him as a model, it
snowed three feet. With the snow filling up the corral around him, he carried the tools of his trade: a leather saddle fitted with saddle bags, fringe-decorated bridle, coiled lariat and silver-dollar size spurs.These, the clothes on his back, and, of course, his horse, were sometimes the only possessions a cowboy of the Old West owned.”

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - JUNE 2005

" BITTIN' UP RIMROCK RANCH "

150 s/n Giclee Canvas 20" x 20"$1795
1250 s/n Paper 19" x 19" Email-price

At Wyoming’s Rimrock Ranch, cowboys and their horses look much the way they did back in the Wild West of Laramie and Cheyenne. Scouting for portrait models, artist James Bama first met ranch hand Greg Laughen in the summer, when the young man’s hat, shirt and jeans were still crisp and new. At the time, Bama offered to take his picture, but the cowboy didn’t feel right – he thought he looked too much like a city slicker. By December, Laughen’s clothes were broken in enough that he felt ready to be photographed. He was teaching a young buckskin its first lessons in responding to the rein. Shortly, he would lead the horse by its makeshift rope bridle into the corral to prepare him for “bittin’ up,” taking the bit without rearing its head. Patiently, the ranch hand has taught the buckskin to take the saddle and to keep calm when men approach. Now his student is ready for a new lesson in horse sense.

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - FEB. 2005

" YOUNG PLAINS INDIAN "

150 s/n Giclee Canvas 24" x 24" $3650
1500 s/n Paper 22" x 22.5" Email-price

The distinctive portraits of the contemporary West and its traditional culture have earned James Bama the respect of art collectors and critics worldwide. There is no mistaking the texture found in a Bama painting; whether skin, stone, cloth or leather, the detail speaks volumes about the lives of the artist’s subjects.
“I saw this young man in the grand entry at a Crow Fair and photographed him during a moment when the parade halted,” Bama explains of Young Plains Indian. “I was struck by the symbolism of the wings tied across the brave’s back, making him look like a messenger of death with the feather in his hair crossing the wings as a counterpoint. The combination of outfit with dramatic attitude was a happy accident, as most Indians today don’t have quite the look of those photographed around the turn of the twentieth century. But this brave could have been living in 1879. It is something you could never get in a pose—the look in his eye was positively mesmerizing.”

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - JULY 2001

" THE TEAMSTER "

POSTER
25.5" x 20"
$30

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - AUG. 1996

" THE WARRIOR "

200 s/n Paper
13.125" x 9"
$668

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - JAN. 1996

" CHEYENNE SPLIT HORN HEADDRESS "

200 s/n Paper
26" x 13.75"
$668

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 1995

" BLACKFOOT CEREMONIAL HEADDRESS "

200 s/n Paper
30" x 16"
$850

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - MAY 1995

" A COWBOY NAMED ANNE "

1000 s/n Paper
18.75" x 11.5"
Email-price

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - FEB. 1995

" READY TO RIDE "

1000 s/n Paper
18.75" x 12.5"
$185

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 1994

" CHEYENNE DOG SOLDIER "

1000 s/n Paper
27.75" x 18.625"
$665

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - MARCH 1994

" SLIM WARREN THE OLD COWBOY "

1000 s/n Paper
12" x 8.875"
$179

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - DEC. 1993

" ON THE NORTH FORK OF THE SHOSHONI "

1000 s/n Paper
19" x 19"
$295

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - JULY 1993

" THE BUFFALO DANCE "

1000 s/n Paper
20" x 16"
$495

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - MAY 1995

" WES STUDI AS MAGUA "

1000 s/n Paper
21.75" x 13.75"
Email-price

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - JAN. 1993

" MAKING HORSE MEDICINE "

1000 s/n Paper
19.125" x 23"
$295

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - NOV. 1992

" SIOUX SUBCHIEF "

1000 s/n Paper
21.25" x 13.25"
Email-price

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - OCT. 1992

" BLACKFEET WAR ROBE "

1000 s/n Paper
21.25" x 13.25"
$195

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - SEPT. 1992

" COMING ROUND THE BEND "

1000 s/n Paper
12.25" x 22"
$195

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - APRIL 1992

" NORTHERN CHEYENNE WOLF SCOUT "

1000 s/n Paper
21" x 13.5"
$199

 

 

 

 

 

 

JAMES BAMA - APRIL 1992

" CROW CAVALRY SCOUT "

1000 s/n Paper
21.25" x 13.5"
$295