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James has research interests in Marxian-inflected histories and theories of modern and contemporary art, focusing on the philosophical works of Theodor W. Adorno, Walter Benjamin, and Jacques Rancière. Other research interests include:

• the politics/poetics of post-Kantian aesthetic theory
• the Frankfurt School of critical theory
• alternative or resistant forms of popular culture

James' first monograph, Adorno and Art: Aesthetic Theory Contra Critical Theory (Hampshire: Palgrave, 2014/16 pbk), offers a comprehensive, critical, and accessible account of Theodor W. Adorno's aesthetic theory of art from a contemporary perspective. David Ryan's review, published in Art Monthly, observed that 'one senses throughout that Hellings is testing his ideas and critical persuasions through, and with, Adorno, which is illuminating in the light of his rather good discussion of subjectivity and objectivity within both aesthetic theory and art making in general.' According to Ryan, James 'makes Adorno's thought vivid for the present, especially in his attempts to think through contemporary artistic and political practices.' James has since been working on his second monograph, which is under contract with Bloomsbury, entitled Adorno and Film: Thinking in Images. James has published a number of articles and chapters on Adorno et al., in; Telos (New York), New German Critique (Duke University), Alexander Kluge-Jahrbuch (University of North Carolina), Oxford University Press, BFI/Bloomsbury, Pontcerq (France), Spector Books (Germany), Artwords Press, Café Gallery Projects and Eastside Projects. James has also given talks at the Association for Art History (Glasgow and Open universities), Eastside Projects, European University of St. Petersburg, Royal College of Art, Université Rennes II, Tate Modern, and the University of Nottingham. In the autumn of 2021 James was the first recipient of the Association for Art History / the Ampersand Foundation art history residency award.