Archive 2008-09
Reece Jones
- Venue: Fine Art Lecture Theatre
- Start: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:00:00 GMT
- End: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:00:00 GMT
Reece Jones’s Charcoal drawings are laden with cinematic suspense, from a flyover looming out of an inky black background to a burst of white light exploding like forked lightning on a tranquil grassy enclave – sublime and apocalyptic imagery.
Reece Jones uses charcoal, layer upon layer of it. His drawings look as if they have been made with a ruler, but the vertical striations covering each surface like a veil are actually caused by dragging sand paper across the charcoal; this unusual form of erasure removes gestural quirks and reduces definition to produce images that are mysteriously atmospheric. Repeating the process again and again creates a lush surface in which misty greys and velvety blacks (which are surprisingly shiny where the carbon has been allowed to accumulate) are dramatised by the whiteness of the exposed paper; but despite the visual fireworks, the insistent verticals influence ones understanding of each drawing.
An explosive flash of light illuminates 'Protect and Survive', a nocturnal landscape in which the verticals look like heavy rain. This and the shaft of light travelling to the ground, make one read the flash as a bolt of lightning, despite its resemblance to a firework display. A tree is silhouetted against the light but, at the foot of the shaft stands a dead trunk, a victim of an earlier storm, perhaps. This diminutive presence performs a similar function to the people in Caspar David Friedrich's paintings who stand and stare, awed by the splendour of the natural phenomena that dwarf them. At the other extreme is 'Cattle Truck II', a view of a flyover where the railings have been ripped apart, presumably by a vehicle crashing through.
Sarah Kent. Time Out Magazine / Issue 1771 / July 28 – August 4 2004