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All images ©LaFontsee Galleries. May not be reproduced without written permission.
KRISTOPHER JONES • Statement
My drawings are passionate images of obsessively developed forms that are stirred by science and are sacred. My drawings are both preconceived and intuitive. I stitch the ineffable substance of spirituality to my surface using creatively intentioned line. My drawings inspire a deeper reflective mood, and I desire that my audience connects personally and subjectively to them. My work gives visual representation to the wild and mysterious language of spirituality.
I am influenced by the microscopic world of cells and the vast expanse of the cosmos. I have no strict routine or extensive preparatory planning to create my forms. Instead, I try different methods of throwing, splattering, sponging, or spraying the wash onto the paper. I really enjoy the physical act of applying the wash. I experience a mix of reckless joy and anxiety about “messing it up”. It feels on the edge of being chaotic, but is reigned in by compositional considerations. The conscious influence of my aesthetic education and understanding of formal elements ebb and flow in a relationship with the intuitive and visceral experience with the materials.
After the wash dries I revisit the piece anew. The second step of my work is the process of drawing into the forms with line. This process takes considerably more time, and is an enjoyable active meditation. I move into the pits and gaps of the wash, discovering areas of volume and positive/negative relationships. The lines reach and connect. They are layered and knotted together to create density. It may appear that the line is trying to contain the wash and can suggest a message about chaos and control. I see it differently. The wash invites the line to search it, explore it, to move in and give it describable shape. To me it expresses the beauty in dichotomy.
We are all spiritual. We are more than the constructs of our environment. Somehow we reflect the Divine in our spirits. It is hard to understand the spirit aside from the intimate experiences of life and the intuition that there is something else inside us. I believe but do not know yet how to speak about this raw and mysterious part of humanity. The term ineffable is defined as an incapability of being expressed in words. When I make my work I shift into a sense of awareness that the spiritual and tangible experience is happening at the same time. I open myself to this quiet harmony of this truth. I dwell on it and meditate on my reaction to it. I try to imagine the deeper places of conflict and communication into a place of sacred turbulence. I want to depict what could be real if we had eyes to see it. I want to describe the sacred. The soul is not a bland substance like a spiritual social security card. It is a living habitat for all the unique and significant aspects of our identity. It is irreducibly complex.
My drawings are a response to the beauty and sorrow of the hidden places of the soul. My drawings are a prayer to God and about God, a prayer of excited gratitude; for I realize that there is a mystery beyond my imagination. I join that mystery when I draw. These images are intended to represent the inner parts of the soul and the intrinsic connection we have as a community and with the Divine.
KRISTOPHER JONES • Biography
EDUCATION
2007
Masters of Fine Art, Drawing, Kendall College of Art and Design, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2004
Bachelors of Fine Art, Life Drawing, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010
“ArtPrize”, LaFontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, Michigan
“Intense Concentration”, invitational, University of Texas, San Antonio, Texas
2008
“The Artist Project”, Merchandise Mart, Chicago, Illinois
“New Abstraction”, solo exhibition, Southwestern Michigan College, Dowagiac, Michigan
“Great Lakes Drawing Biennial”, first place winner, Ypsilanti, Michigan
2007
“Drawing Invitational”, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
“Ineffable”, graduate thesis exhibition, Capsule Gallery, Grand Rapids, Michigan
“Manifest 2006 National Drawing Annual Publication”, Cincinnati, Ohio
“Drawing No Conclusions”, international juried drawing exhibition, Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2006
“Group Show”, Capsule Gallery, Grand Rapids, Michigan
“Fun PI.G.S on Parade”, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2004
“Personal Pronouns- Cellar Roots”, juried exhibition and catalog, Ypsilanti, Michigan
PUBLICATIONS
2008
Rockman, Deborah. “Drawing Essentials: A Guide to Drawing From Observation.” Oxford University Press, February Edition
2006
Philbin, Gail. “Drawings defy, define category,” Grand Rapids Press, December 2006, 8(H); reproduction and commentary
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2007 - Present
Kendall College of Art and Design, Instructor for Continuing Studies Program, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Kendall College of Art and Design, Admissions Counselor, national and regional recruiting, portfolio critiques, evaluation for admission, endorsement for merit scholarship, and registration of in-coming students, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2005 - 2007
Kendall College of Art and Design, Graduate Teaching Assistantship in Drawing 1&2 and Life Drawing 1&2 courses, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2004 – 2005
Home School Connection, Professional Instructor in Art, for private home-school co-op, Ann Arbor, Michigan
GALLERY REPRESENTATION
2007 – Present
LaFontsee Galleries, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2006
Capsule Gallery, Grand Rapids, Michigan
2004
Art Attack Gallery, Ypsilanti, Michigan
