Comments

August, 2011
Art of England Magazine article (takes a while to download so please be patient...)



18/6/11
BBC Radio Manchester interview

18/6/11
Salford Online video interview

April, 2011
Art Business Today
"Social Networking: the new face of art marketing."

31/1/11
Sarah Painting Sweets
Hi James,
I had to write personally to you seeing as you'd taken the time to paint an entire portrait of me!
Thank you so much, it really is one of the loveliest things anyone has ever done! It sums me & my work up.

It's amazing to discover you've inspired someone to paint, and another thing entirely when you find you are the subject. Keep up the good work. Your ideas are fab, and i'm not just saying that coz you chose to paint me!!

Sarah xx


17/6/10
Sailing
Fiona's reaction was "Oh yeah, I like that!" Rory's "Cool!"
My feeling is that coloured stripes would further hide the people and that is what I like about this composition, the fact you have to really look at each dingy to see what is going on behind the sails. It is exactly what appealed about your paintings, the balance between uniformity, conformity, individuality and rebellion which is partially hidden, but also is in plain sight. This something that I feel runs strongly through me, and I have still to discover quite where I am!
Steve Stuart

10/6/10 Hereford Times
Crowd Supports National Team
A crowd scene of England football supporters is sure to draw attention to the current exhibition at Leominster’s Lion Gallery…

12/6/10 Western Daily Press

9/6/10 Stroud Life
Painting for England by Jo Barber
Artist James Milroy has shown his support for England in the FIFA World Cup 2010 by painting hundreds of adoring fans. His patriotic terrace scene Supporting England, in which fans form a living flag is the latest in his CrowdingAbout Series of paintings. And he has even sent a copy of the picture to the England football team’s training camp in Rustenberg, South Africa…

5/5/10 Stroud News & Journal
Villagers Inspire Artwork by Matty Airey

June issue Progressive Greetings
Card featured in Innovations section

May, 2010
BBC Oxfordshire Website feature and slideshow

May issue: The Jackdaw
PaintersPainting reproduced with caption

1/3/2010
The CrowdingAbout Series Exhibition
The reason I go along to galleries is in the hope that the artist has tried to put some philosophical ideas behind their art. I really enjoy thinking about the possible message in the metaphors artists use, I don't get on with pictures for the sake of it, so I really enjoyed your exhibition. I'd be keen to ask you a few questions on the messages in the pictures if you don't mind?

Interestingly I didn't really grasp your ideas at first but then I read the message book and found myself laughing at some people saying you had pigeon holed people in clichés and then other people had angrily responded that it was a message of uniqueness! I loved the fact that you had somehow stirred up an argument between two people who weren't even in the same room together by hanging some pictures on the wall. I considered both views and looked at each piece again and came to the conclusions I recorded.

Since then I have thought about your pictures a bit more and a few other things occurred to me. Firstly the pictures that look so similar on first glance are actually quite different in their content. Some, like the artists at their easels, show people demonstrating their differences, but others like the supermarket show people just being the same. Furthermore the artists are pursuing their life’s passion, they are feeling fulfilled, self expressed, completed, and empowered with all the joy that gives life meaning. But the shoppers are all completing the same mundane necessary tasks that is a routine but soulless part of our lives. Are there intentional differences in the messages behind the setting in each work or am I over thinking it?

Another point that occurred to me, was that life can feel quite frustrating and claustrophobic until you find a hobby, passion, art form that allows you to feel genuinely self expressed. For me it was discovering philosophy, clearly for you it was painting. But we all have something that gives us joy and, although it may not feel like it, there are others who share our passions. This is quite a comforting thought for me, that there are others who think similarly and enjoy searching for understanding in things, but you don't often meet those with the same passions. This, for me, was reflected in your artists’ picture (as it seems rather unlikely that Banksy will meet Van Gogh!) and the naked cyclists and a few others. You seemed to be commenting that not only do we need to find the things in life that matter to us, but that there are other people in the world who share these passions. Is that a comment on the fact that we often feel happiest in the company of like-minded people and should try to be true to ourselves? Also, the fact that they were all lined up so geometrically seemed to heighten the idea that the cyclists etc were not all literally cycling together, they were individuals enjoyed their passions but you just pictured them together almost like cut-out photos of cyclists placed next to each other rather than a literal photo of a cycle race. Does that make sense!? Was that a part of your thinking with the layout?

Thinking of the layout, there were a few like the backbenchers and ramblers that were not laid out completely symmetrically, as the people were spaced our a little irregularly. Was there a significance to this? I guess that a series depicting similarity as well as originality would not work properly if the layout of each piece was identical!

Tom Deacon

16/2/10
Drawing Crowds
His work has been described as a sort of Where’s Wally meets L S Lowry. Whatever his people are up to there on the canvas you don’t need much imagination to think of other things they could be doing and art doesn’t get much more involving than that…

John Hudson, Western Daily Press

31/12/09
Alex’s Friends
I collected the painting on Monday and was really pleased with it. It was Alex's birthday yesterday, he was very surprised and thought it was absolutely brilliant. A lot of his friends were here last night and thought it was a fantastic present - so much so that some of them would like prints of it. Friends of mine who have seen it also think it is fantastic, a really creative and thoughtful present and have asked for your contact details for future reference. Many thanks for helping to make Alex's birthday present something special for him. It had an even better effect I had hoped, so a big thank you for all the work you have done. Jean Ryan

7/12/09
Touched by Your Art
I felt compelled to write you a quick note after discovering your work in the ByLocal Gallery in the Regent Arcade, Cheltenham. I'd actually popped into the gallery in a foul mood having just paid a painful visit to the dentist, the only upside of which was having the rest of the afternoon away from my much despised telesales job. I'd visited the gallery previously but was drawn back to see what had changed.

My girlfriend of 10 months is an artist, in fact she's studying a masters in art therapy at Derby currently, and she loves to hear my opinions on art which vary from "I don't get it" to "it would have been better if...". It's very rare I find pieces that appeal instantly and without reserve.

Your work does exactly that.

The two pieces in particular that resonated so strongly were Telephoning and Rambling. One represents a part of my life I wish I could escape and the other the part I wish to escape too. The two combined act as both inspiration to change and a warning not to revert.

This email wings it's way to you shortly after I have completed the laborious task of updating my CV in preparation of some much needed life changes. Thank you for the inspiration and I hope a future role will afford me the luxury of disposable income (I've been told such things exist!) with which to purchase the two pieces that may well have changed my life!

Thank you for the art.

James Clay