Born 1965, Los Angeles, California, James Feldman received his BFA from Art Center College (1990), studying painting and sculpture under Jeremy Gilbert-Rolfe and Stephen Prina. While still in college, he was hired to visualize designs for the movie Total Recall, and received his first motion picture credit.

After graduating, Feldman's work was first exhibited in a group show curated by critic David Pagel at the Los Angeles Art Fair in 1991. In 1993, a suite of drawings and sculpture were shown in a solo show at Bliss Gallery in Pasadena, California.

Between 1999 and 2001, Feldman was a contributing writer for Art Issues magazine, and was further exposed to the ideas of leading figures in the field of contemporary art (Dave Hickey, Libby Lumpkin) who were also writing for the magazine during this period.

In 2003 Feldman was asked to contribute, along with seven other artists (Sam Durant, Sharon Lockhart, Pae White, Mary Hodson, Jim Isermann, T. Kelly Mason, Mitchell Kane), to the Los Angeles Forum For Architecture and Urban Design's Art and Architecture Portfolio. An edition of these prints was subsequently acquired by the Getty Museum.

In 2004, Feldman traveled to Sydney, Australia, to work on the movie Superman Returns. A selection of this work was included in the book, The Art of Superman Returns (Chronicle Books, 2006).

In 2005 Feldman moved to Hong Kong, where he has lived for the past six years. Currently he has a studio in an industrial building in Chai Wan. His recent work is an uneasy amalgamation of the sometimes-conflicting aesthetics to which he has been exposed: his adolescence in Southern California's surf and skate culture; his formal education focused on minimalism and contemporary art; his time spent working for Academy Award-winning makeup effects designer Rob Bottin on horror movies (Se7en); his work with production designers, architects, and illustrators at the top of their respective fields, and his years spent immersed in the vibrant surroundings of Hong Kong.