James Rielly was born in 1956 in Wrexham, Wales and splits his time living and working between Paris and the south of France. Educated at the Gloucester College of Art and Design in Cheltenham, United Kingdom, and the Belfast College of Art in Northern Ireland, Rielly has been the recipient of numerous awards, fellowships, and grants since 1983. He has also participated in various artist residencies both in the UK and internationally.

Rielly’s work has been the focus of solo exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as the CAC Malaga in Spain; the Centro de Arte de Salamanca, Spain; FRAC Auvergne in Clermont-Ferrand, France; Musée des Beaux-Arts de Nantes, France; and the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany. His contributions to group shows include notable exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France; Musée d’Art Contemporain Marseille, France; Frissiras Museum in Athens, Greece; Gemeentemuseum Helmond in the Netherlands; Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart in Berlin, Germany; Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York, USA; and the highly acclaimed Young British Artists exhibition by Saatchi at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, UK.

James Rielly’s artworks are featured in numerous esteemed institutional collections around the world, including the CAC Malaga, Spain; Centre Pompidou in Paris, France; Saatchi Collection and Tate Gallery in London, UK; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh, UK; FRAC Auvergne, France; and the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, UK, among others.