Born and raised in Iowa, Jim Buckels developed an early fascination with fantasy images and faraway places. His mother, a literature professor at Iowa State University, exposed him to storybooks illustrated by N.C. Wyeth, Maxfield Parrish, and Howard Pyle. This exposure can be seen in the magical qualities of his paintings and prints. They seem to offer the viewer an opportunity to enter into a storybook, fantastical realm.
Buckels attended the University of Northern Iowa on a Fine Arts scholarship, but interrupted his education to enlist in the army. Returning from a tour in Vietnam three years later, Buckels resumed his education and finished a bachelor's degree in art. He later worked as a free lance illustrator, reminiscent in style to regional artists such as Grant Wood and Thomas Hart Benton.
Buckels is best known for his visionary lines and skewed perspective, which creates an inner world of both real and imaginary locales. In his work he exhibits the influences of the primitive dreamscapes of Henri Rousseau. It has been noted of Buckels that his pictures "tell stories that linger in memory long after one has viewed them, hinting at truths that lie just below the surface of the seen world." As a contemporary artist working in his own faintly deco/1990's style, Buckels continues to enthrall viewers and recruit voyagers into his magical realm.
Jim Buckels Artwork is done in several forms. His originals are mainly done with an airbrush. He also does limited edition serigraphs on paper and canvas, and Buckels does serigraphs on clayboard which tend to produce the quality of his original air brush paintings.
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