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DON'T MISS - NEW EXHIBITION:
MIKE JONES
13th APRIL 2006
The Albany Gallery
74b Albany Road, Cardiff CF24 3RS
www.albanygallery.com
"Collier with Tin Bath" 2006
References:
JOSEF HERMAN
also thought highly of this Welsh artist, he said, “I am impressed with the textures of his oil pastels. The figures in black and white stay on in my mind. I am glad to learn that the Albany Gallery ( in Cardiff ) are giving him an exhibition. Like most Welshmen I know, he is very modest, so I will spill it out - he is extremely gifted.” ( Josef Herman OBE, RA August 1998)
WILL ROBERTS
(June 1997)
I've been familiar with Mike Jones’ work for some years, finding it always good, always imaginative. A talented and sensitive worker, self-taught, but has studied well without help or other guidance. Recent work of his has shown great progress and is, indeed, in my view, first class. He must stand well now along with the better Welsh painters".
Born in Neath, West Glamorgan, in 1941, Mike Jones lives and paints in the Swansea Valley and has earned his reputation for evocative portrayals of the Welsh landscape and its people. His impressive interpretations range from the fishing boats in the docks of Swansea to the isolated hill farms in the valley and the Black Mountains.
Mike Jones has exhibited widely throughout Wales for the last ten years. Although essentially self-taught, Mike has a drive to expand his knowledge and to push the boundaries of his work.
He is constantly looking to evolve and this is surely the sign of an important contribution to the contemporary art scene in Wales.
"Collier with Lamp" 2005
Exhibitions:
Ceri Richards Gallery
, Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea.
“John Uzzell-Edwards and Friends”
WAC.
1990
Ystradgynlais Exhibition Centre
- Solo exhibition.
1992
‘New Gallery’
, Swansea - Selected artists.
1993
Gorseinon Institute
- Solo exhibition WAC.
1994
‘Attic Gallery’
, Swansea - Selected artists.
1995
‘Menter Aman Tawe’
- Solo exhibition.
1996
Pontardawe Arts Centre
- solo exhibition WAC.
1997
‘Attic Gallery’
, Swansea - Selected artists (35th Anniversary Exhibition)
1997
Norwegian Church Arts Centre
, Cardiff -
LAING Exhibition.
1998
Bristol Cathedral - LAING regional finalists exhibition.
1998
MALL GALLERIES
, London -
LAING regional finalists exhibition.
1998
‘Attic Gallery’
, Swansea -
2-man show with Nick Holly .
1998
St.David’s Hall, Cardiff
-
“Looking Without Prejudice”.
1998
Pontardawe Arts Centre
- Solo exhibition WAC.
1998
Albany Gallery
, Cardiff -
3-man show with Nick Holly and William Selwyn.
1999
Rhondda Heritage Gallery
- Rhondda Open Art exhibition.
1999
‘Attic Gallery’
, Swansea - Selected artists.
1999
Pontardawe Arts Centre
-
2-man show with
James Donovan
WAC.
2000
‘Attic Gallery’
, Swansea -
“Spring into Summer” exhibition (selected artists).
2000
St.David’s Hall
, Cardiff
“Welsh Artist of the Year” exhibition (selected artists)
2000
Albany Gallery
, Cardiff - summer exhibition (selected artists)
2000
Oriel Theatr Brycheiniog
- Solo exhibition.
2001
Welsh Artist of the Year
Exhibition St. David's Hall, Cardiff.
2002
'New Works'
with Chris Griffin, Howard Coles & David Atkins
2004
Exhibition of paintings
at the Albany Gallery Cardiff (Joint exhibition)
2005
Welsh Artist of the Year
St.David's Hall, Cardiff
2006
One man show
- Albany Gallery, Cardiff
REVIEW OF EXHIBITION April 2006
by Nigel Williams
I was delighted to have been asked to write an introduction to this one man exhibition of new work by Mike Jones at the Albany Gallery in Cardiff. It is always a pleasure to view new work, especially when it has been produced by an artist for whom I have great respect and admiration.
I first saw Mike’s work about fifteen years ago. Since then his work has changed dramatically in terms of both the subject matter and style. At that time I was very impressed by his draughtsmanship, his drawings and pen and wash paintings were finely detailed renderings of buildings of architectural interest in and around the Swansea area. Those pieces were highly proficient in their own right but Mike was keen to explore a more expressive route within painting and drawing.
Today, Mike’s subject matter is drawn from his observations both past and present. He was brought up in the village of Godre’r-graig in the Swansea valley and from an early age was aware of the harsh living conditions that his family and neighbours sometimes had to endure. During school holidays he would take a job helping in one of the many private mines that littered the valley and it is clear within his work today that these images have been burned into his memory. His drawings of faceless miners, now long since consigned to Godre-r-graig’s history, beautifully capture the sense of utter fatigue, the brass lamp being a burden that is almost too much to bare at the end of a gruelling shift. It is the artist’s ability to synthesise his image, to deconstruct the scene and to simply describe both the figure and landscape with the minimum of marks that I feel is his true strength. Nostalgic subject references are often criticised within contemporary fine art practice yet are the things that provide a sense of place for many people. Painting becomes a tangible link to our past, to a time that perhaps should in no way be romanticised but is never-the-less fondly remembered for mankind’s ability to smile through adversity. I believe Mike Jones is able to provide a unique link between the past and present. His paintings of women talking on a park bench, a sandal precariously dangling from the foot of a crossed leg, could well be taken from any park in any part of Wales today, if only we could stop to appreciate the humour and poetry within such scenes. Mike Jones has ‘seen’ and continues to ‘see’. He is a story teller of the most dramatic kind. Mike doesn’t feel the need to write copious lines of text for his descriptions where one simple word will do. His work oozes confidence in his skill yet is clearly not content to remain fixed within a style that has obviously been successful for him.
"Road to Penywern"
On a recent visit to his attic studio in Pontardawe I found the room packed to the rafters with drawings and paintings of all sizes and formats, abundant evidence of his self-need to evolve. Mike will take an idea and draw and paint it over and over again until he arrives at something he can live with. Works that would happily hang in most houses are often withdrawn from show if the artist is not entirely comfortable with them. As an art lecturer I am always keen to encourage the use of works by artists in Wales to inform the research of my students. I am often able to call upon the work of Mike Jones as an exemplar for a style and technique that to me always reminds me of Wales in the same way as a male voice choir or the National anthem at the Millennium Stadium.
There is no coincidence that Mike’s work has been compared to that of the late great Josef Herman and Will Roberts. He is an admirer of these artists and is proud to have received positive endorsements from both men several years ago. Herman greatly admired Mike’s drawings and felt so strongly that Mike should be represented by a gallery in Wales that he wrote a letter at the time stating that Mike
“is extremely gifted”
and that his “
figures in black and white stay on in my mind”
. Will Roberts, a straight talking man who was known to be highly critical of work, also wrote a letter to a local gallery stating that they would be wise to show Mike’s work because it was
“first class”
. He went on to write that
“He
[Mike Jones]
must stand well now, along with the better Welsh painters”.
Similarities can always be found within the work of artists from like environments. Yet if we look deeper into the work of Mike Jones we will also find connections to a seemingly unlikely influence such as Frank Auerbach and perhaps the more obvious links to the works of David Carpanini, Aneurin Jones and the stylistic and emotional power of the German expressionist woodcuts of Schmidt Rottluff and Franz Marc. Mike Jones is not afraid to acknowledge his thirst for personal and artistic development and will apply whatever means or methods to achieve a connection with his subjects, figurative or landscape.
"Red Dress"
Perhaps if Mike is to be criticised at all it will be because he is determined to keep on painting. Pretty much all painting today is considered cliché. The label of cliché is often used as a form of highbrow assault upon the work of those who simply wish to paint what matters to them. Perhaps we, as art lovers, like to think that these attacks on painting as a genre are little more than a nuisance, yet they usually carry the weight of critics that often have other personal reasons to be seen to favour the so-called ‘cutting edge’ of contemporary art. This detracts from what is really important. Contrary to the claims of French Painter Paul Delaroche when in 1839 he responded to his first view of a daguerreotype and claimed,
“From today painting is dead”,
for far from being dead painting is being collected with a furious passion across the country with wise investors seeing their purchases shoot up in value. It is thanks to the work of artists like Mike Jones that painting will remain indelibly linked to the people and places, concepts or emotions it represents…and long may it be so.
Nigel Williams
Artist and Lecturer in Fine Art.
Nigel Williams is a first class honours graduate of painting and drawing from Swansea School of Art and Design and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Fine Art. He is a lecturer in Fine Art at Gorseinon College of Further Education and part-time tutor with the Swansea University Department of Continuing Education. He is the founding editor of Artcymru.co.uk. Nigel is also a Director of the Josef Herman Trust.
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