James Tebbutt was born in Northampton, England in 1980.
In 1998 he went to The University of Northampton to study a Foundation Course in Art & Design. After finishing the course James moved on to Coventry University to complete a BA (Hons) in Fine Art, where he specialised in painting.
Areas of paint, objects and various marks are laid down as he works then perhaps painted out as the work evolves and the composition develops. Happy accidents are as an integral part of the work as the clean and crisp or the neatly painted, one offsetting and enhancing the other, the process of painting being equal to if not more significant than the chosen visual references and motifs.
The imagery and motifs used are drawn from a wide variety of sources from popular and high culture. This reflects not only his own wide-ranging interests but also the wide range of visual stimulus in the world around him.
The resultant paintings are not planned through to completion before they are started but instead develop and evolve with a stream of consciousness which links the eclectic component images together. As a result, the paintings can have many narratives and are open to a multitude of possible interpretations.