James-Lee Duffy is an Artist, Art Director and co-founder of the cult zine Pavement Licker.

His work has been: banned by the London Underground; worn by supermodels; exhibited in New York, London, and Tokyo; read on the toilet; drunk out of; written about; printed in coffee table books; scrawled on the walls throughout the Saatchi Gallery; tattooed on human skin; broadcast on the news; stuck on children’s lunch boxes; displayed on Europe’s biggest billboard; collaborated with; taken over a clothing store; and hung on collectors’ walls.

Duffy has worked in and led creative agencies for over two decades. In 2010, he founded We Are Shadows Studio and was part of the vanguard of the street art explosion in London at the beginning of this century under the name ORKO.

With his painting, Duffy creates with an exuberant and explosive style, inspired by cartoon characters and fragmented childhood memories. His seemingly frenzied technique involves deliberate markings, mixing unorthodox skills and materials, bold gestures, rapid paint spattering, and animated unconventional forms, resulting in humorous, fleetingly familiar, and unconventional imagery.

In 2003, Duffy and writer Josh Jones started the zine Pavement Licker. It promoted fresh talent alongside more established names in the underground art world and was fiercely independent. With contributions from some of the world’s most famous underground artists, Pavement Licker has been described by GQ as “London’s most legendary art zine,” i-D Magazine as “King of Zines,” Time Out as “the all-time underground bible of art,” and Juxtapoz Magazine as “one of the most important underground art zines in Europe.” Known for their extensive contacts in the art world, Pavement Licker has continued to promote artists to a global audience through the zine, collaborations, and curated art shows. They even introduced their favourite artists to a whole new audience through the labels of an eponymous beer created with the brewery Verdant. They have also worked with the Saatchi Gallery, collaborated with OBEY, created more zines and screen prints, raised money for charity with groundbreaking multi-artist art exhibitions, and published a book about the famous Dragon Bar.

Duffy had two paintings on display at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. Out of over 18,000 entries, only 1,500 were selected.

We Are Shadows Limited

Interview -Kent Creative

Interview - 545 Magazine

Interview - MagCulture

Exhibitions
Stick’em Up, Magma, Clerkenwell, London, 2002
Perverted Science, Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes, Shoreditch, London, 2002
Decknology, Lounge Bar, London, 2002
Food Show, Magma, Clerkenwell, London, 2002
Perverted Science, Tranan Bar, Stockholm, 2003
Glastonbury, Rizla Lounge, 2003
Florence Fine Art, West End, London, 2003
Finders Keepers, Shoreditch, London, 2003
‘Stick’em Up’, Revolver, Melbourne, Australia, 2003
Design a Qee Expo, Playlounge, Newburgh Street, London, 2004
Cake, Fitzrovia, London, 2004
Firetrap Hotel, London, 2004
Hollywood Remix, Soho, New York, 2004
Who Let You In?, Wall Gallery, Shibuya, Tokyo, 2004
930 Square Feet of Peepshow, 17 Gallery, Shoreditch, London, 2005
Pavement Licker, Notting Hill Arts Club, London, 2006
23rd Union, Hoxton Bar and Grill, Hoxton, London, 2006
A Haunted Man, Notting Hill Arts Club, London, 2006
Queen of Hoxton, Shoreditch, London, 2009
Stuck Up Piece of Crap, 323 East Gallery, Detroit, 2012
Pavement Licker, 71 Gallery, Shoreditch, London, 2013
Pavement Licker, Pure Evil Gallery, Shoreditch, London, 2017
Print! Tear It Up, Somerset House, London, 2018
Pavement Lickers, Mayfair, London, 2018
Sweet Harmony: Rave | Today, Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea, London, 2019
Boundaries, London, 2019
Pressing Matters, Matches Town House, 2021
Moose Knuckles, Regent Street, London, 2021
Chaos & Order, FRMD, East London, 2022
Christmas Show, FRMD, East London, 2022
Storytellers, The Beaney House of Art & Knowledge, Canterbury, 2023
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, 2024
The Anonymous Heart Project, 2024
If You Go Into The Woods, Faversham, 2024
Ashbees 100, Residency, Rye, East Sussex, 2023–2025

We Are Shadows Artist Studio

Studio photos by: Sam Riva