James Neal

I took up painting in 2018, and it has become an outlet through which I can reinterpret normative constructions and self. In particular I'm drawn to faces and figurative imagery. I completed a series of 50 portraits displayed as a 4 x 10 foot patchwork mural which commemorates the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Political activism has been a firmament in my life and informs my work.

After graduating from college and graduate school I worked as a life sciences investment banker. Then a start-up entrepreneur. Then US politics- the second gay person in US history to run for the US Senate.

I lectured on contemporary US politics as an adjunct professor- focusing on the corrosive influence of money in politics. News outlets CNBC, NPR, NBC, ABC, FOX, Channel One (Britain) and ORF (Austria) have featured me as a guest.