The View from the Window Seat
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APEX Insight: Art inspired by air travel isn’t just for avgeeks. Jim Darling’s acclaimed Over Under series has generated a significant amount of online buzz, and has even garnered praise from the likes of Jared Leto.
Six years ago, Jim Darling and his wife worked on an art show in New York called Over Under. Jim’s wife, Tina, presented things found underwater while Jim focused on objects in the sky. He explored the concept of strangers navigating a journey together. “I was doing illustrative characters sitting like temporary roommates and while making windows and backgrounds for those characters I realized that the view out the windows was actually a lot more intriguing,” laughs Jim. He made six windows for the Over Under show, where he realized his passion for the view from a window seat.
The views that sparked Jim’s fascination were the field patterns in middle America. “I’ve always been huge on sitting in the window seat, and I’ve always been, like anybody else, trying to get that good picture out the window. I’m into patterns and abstracts in my paintings. I’ve always looked out the window and thought, wow, eventually I want to paint a field pattern piece.”
“I’ve always been huge on sitting in the window seat and I’ve always been, like anybody else, trying to get that good picture out the window.” – Jim Darling
For inspiration, Jim turns to social media. “Sometimes I use my own photos, sometimes I take ideas from those I’ve seen on Instagram, from people that I follow who’ve taken snapshots. Right now I’m focused on big cities,” he continues. “I’m painting a lot using Google Earth which allows me to get into different locations and play with altitude. Whenever I can, I do my best to get the window seat, however, now with the kids I get the aisle seat,” he laughs.
Despite his relegation to the aisle seat Jim remains positive. “I have a love for looking out the window. You look out, 10 seconds go by and it’s a different view. You’ve lost what you just saw, it’s only temporary. It’s so small and so grand at the same time, really allowing you to look around and kind of discover. That’s what I do with my painting style. It’s abstract. I paint with the tiniest brush there is in hopes people are in there looking at the tiny details and having that same discovery that you would looking out the airplane window.”
For more aerospace-inspired art of a different sort, read “Project Runway” coming up in The Design Issue.
Follow Jim Darling on Instagram for more aerial-inspired imagery and art.