Locust Jones
Locust Jones’ recent series of works on paper delve into issues of contemporary politics. With quickly worked surfaces reflecting a stream of consciousness process, these works are energetic
and sometimes manic interpretations of current issues. From the death of Michael Jackson to the climate change summit in Copenhagen, the works swell with thought provoking images already
familiar to us, although sometimes subconsciously, through the various media of the Internet, photojournalism, film culture and nightly news broadcasts.
Melanie Flynn
Born in New Zealand, and now residing in Australia, Jones' works
have been largely influenced by his travels. Spending time in
locations as diverse as Lebanon, India, New York and
remote locales of New Zealand, Jones thrives simultaneously in
both isolation from and immersion in distinct cultures.
Feeling that his strongest works arrive from states of being
challenged, his travels have been the catalyst for works that
expose the physical pressures of being in unfamiliar or
threatening environments and the psychological states required to
deal with these environments.
This is particularly true of his travels to Lebanon, in both
1999 and during a residency in Beirut in 2004. These
experiences sparked major changes in his understanding of the
effect that media bias has played in forming his own opinions
on issues such as the Israel / Palestine conflict.
His exposure to environments, as diverse as refugee camps and
beach resorts during these travels have resulted in works
which map out not only our ability, but our willingness, to accept
the extremes of the human condition.
In Michael Jackson's heart attack & the Tehran
riots (2009), a haunting face (a terrified looking news
reader) takes central place amongst a collage of political
dignitaries, placard holding protesters, a spirit like figure
and a scene of humanities ascent from apes, and its
subsequent potential decline. Various gestures of a raised
hand can be seen across the work, from a protester's fist or a
politician's wave. Captured by a camera-wielding journalist, the
diverse gestures are morphed into a symbol of insecurity and
confusion, mingled with defiance and strength. The images are
drawn from Jones' daily trawling of newspapers, magazines and
the Internet. Using both his everyday routine encounters with
news imagery and his personal archive of images from magazines
and publications of international photojournalism, Jones'
works become a powerful chronicle of daily and historical news
on one piece of paper.
Underpinning this piece, as can often be seen in Jones' work, is
sprawling text. Brother, Sister,Mother, Father appears before the
longer more hidden text, which declares itself a rant.
Largely indecipherable, the text, like the images, consists of
a stream of thought, instigated by a particular news item.
Using oil and ink applied with Bamboo calligraphy sticks and
sharpened Bamboo poles, emphasises the spontaneity inherent in
the medium, the text, imagery and its message. In the series
of works titled Climate change, this relationship is
evident. The works, which were made in the lead up to the
United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen,
reflect on the feeling of impending doom for the future of the
Earth. Climate change 1 (2009) shows
continents discernible from the surrounding oceans although
with geographic borders between ocean and land starting to
blur. Climate change 2 and 3 (2009) show a
more chaotic picture, as the ink pours over the surface of the
globes, the world becomesa flooded, unrecognisable mass, overrun
with spirit like faces of the former human
inhabitants.
In a recent publication accompanying the exhibition I Walk
the Line: New Australian Drawing, Christine Morrow and
Kit Wise refer to the medium of drawing as capable of reflecting
on temporality, a dynamic state of being or a unfolding of an
event. The 'inherently democratic' medium of drawing, which is
described as 'lo-fi', informal and modest, 1 is cited as being
'the best vehicle for the voice of dissent'.2 With this
summation of the characteristics of the drawing medium in
mind, one can understand why Jones has chosen it for his striving
to make sense of the world we live in. In Jones' words, the
process of rendering with vigour his 'warped diary' of events,
distorts, and impregnates with urgency and emergency the lack of
control we have over world events.
Locust won the prestigious Hazelhurst Prize, arts competition
promoting excellence and innovation in the field of art on paper in
2009. He exhibits throughout New Zealand and Australia, and has had
solo exhibitions in New York, Germany, and Lebanon.
Melanie Flynn
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