Album Paintings catalogue foreword
'Painting 103 (Dad)', 2013, oil on linen, 77cmx 71.5cm
The Cat Street Gallery
Alan Jones: ‘Album Paintings’, The Cat Street Gallery, Hong Kong, 2013.
Since graduating from the National Art School in Sydney in 1997, Jones’ images have often focused on the human figure and landscape. While Jones’ practice is predominantly of a figurative nature, he uses the landscape as a ground or space for his figures to inhabit. The plot of land Jones often refers to and draws inspiration from is a small stretch of overgrown farmland on the banks of the Hawkesbury River. This specific plot of land was granted to Jones’ ancestor, Robert Forrester, who was transported to Australia as a British convict on the First Fleet.
In 2005 Jones first painted two small black and white floating heads as a key motif in his work. Jones’ was looking for a metaphorical tool to reference his own presence. After much experimenting with various forms, Jones brazenly arrived at these ‘self-created avatars’ to reference his own identity. Over the years the heads have grown in both their form and texture as well as evolving in the context of the paintings.
An old album of family photos became the starting point for this new body of work. Jones explains:
I was given a photo album for my 30th birthday. My parents had put together a collection of old family photographs. Many of them are black and white and faded photos of me as a baby. One of the first thoughts I had was that it would be a good starting point for a new body of work. That idea was planted six years ago.
Jones often uses photographs as the starting point for his paintings. However, there comes a point in the development of each work where the paintings begin to evolve in their own direction and the original source photograph is left behind.
Album Paintings
16 October - 9 November 2013
The Cat Street Gallery, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
