James Brown (1951–2020) was an American painter whose career spanned Paris, New York, and Oaxaca. After studying at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, he established himself in the early 1980s on the New York scene, where his work resonated with Neo-Expressionist energy while asserting a singular voice.

His practice encompasses painting, sculpture, printmaking, collage, and drawing. His works combine modernist heritage with motifs and spiritual resonances from tribal and non-Western arts, often oscillating between figuration and abstraction. Textured and handcrafted surfaces are his trademark, and
late series like Firmament evoke constellations, stones or fields
purely gestural. Since his first institutional exhibition at the Gemeentemuseum Arnhem in 1978, Brown has collaborated with major galleries such as Tony Shafrazi, Bruno Bischofberger, Larry Gagosian, Leo Castelli, and Galerie Lelong. His work has been shown in major American and European museums, and more recently celebrated with retrospectives at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca and the Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli.