MARY JONES TRAVEL LIGHT
MARY JONES Travel Light
Mary Jones - Inside Out by Jason Stopa Mary Jones’s recent body of work on view at High Noon Gallery in the Lower East Side are metaphors for the mortal body. I’m not talking about the lush, fleshy material bodies that populate Jenny Saville’s painting. Neither will the audience find a demoralized sense of the body as in the work of Robin Frances Williams. Here, the body is both specific and generalized enough to be an archetype. Yet, these are abstractions. What one sees first in her suite of 13 paintings is the interiorized body. The artist uses X-Rays coupled with the gestural roller marks capturing the movements of the artist’s body in space. It’s classic mind-body dualism, as Jones’ project presents a clear link between the mental and the physical. But, make no mistake, these are multi-media paintings that are as emotional as they are cerebral. Jones uses a number of tools to make a mark, one of which is pedestrian yet ratcheted up to give a nuanced atmospheric read. She uses a roller. There is no shortage of erasure and construction in New York. Anyone who has seen the 2002 film The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal is aware of the painterly flourishes an artist can get out of an everyday house tool. Rollers naturally obliterate, mask, conceal and reveal form; here it also acts as an extension of the body. And this layering is precisely what these paintings do best. The artist also uses stencils, silver and aluminum leaf to desired effect. Most notable is her use of X-Rays. Take a painting like Dream Screen Patrick, (2019). Here, the X-Ray acts a gate, as a means to see beyond the surface image of the work. The top half is composed of creamy, beige horizontal brushstrokes. In the upper right corner is an X-Ray print of teeth, which have been lightly painted over. The teeth bear themselves in a provocative, frontal manner. The bottom half of the painting contains a few purple-pink gestural marks that indicate the drama of the work. The contrast between the two halves is stark. I can’t help but feel the paintings are as much about being as they are about non-being. This is also how Jones’s paintings manage to get personal. On the academic side of the art world, X-Rays serve a very important function. X-Rays map paintings in a matter of hours, highlighting pigments concealed beneath the surface. The previous process could take days. X-Rays help authenticate works by determining the chemical composition in a nondestructive way; leaving a painting left intact. Its’ a kind of excavation. The artist is up to something very similar. Her painting Nike of Samothrace (2018) which takes its name
from the famous Hellenistic sculpture, uses oil paint, spray enamel and X-Ray prints on canvas. It is a smaller painting, lending it a more intimate read. This painting is composed of a gradient that descends from airy blues, to bright oranges to deep grey-blacks. The X-Ray at the top of the painting is of a brain, the bottom X-Ray is what appears to be a shoulder and clavicle. The original sculpture named Nike of Samothrace historically stands as an homage to the goddess, an testament to sea battle, and of the divine coming face to face with mortals. This painting acts a kind of elegy, conflating the human drama with ascension and descension, brain and body, life and death. Other smaller works like Boleyn, (2018)Blue Branches, (2018) and Keep the Channel Open, (2018) are all variations of this format. . One of the more interesting paintings in the show is Diana’s Beautiful Brain, (2019). This one is a bit bigger, measuring over 6 feet in one direction. Things get exciting when the artist has enough space enough to create parallels and points of departure. Philosophers have long been enamored with the connection between thought and action. Scholars like John Bengson and Marc A. Moffett have been trying to explore how states or qualities of mind play out in when it comes time to act, essentially asking the question: what’s going on in the mind when that tells us how to perform. Such transformations play out in a work like this one. Using oil, spray enamel, aluminum leaf and stencils the artist makes swirling roller blacks, whites, reds and blues that resemble neural pathways or a mental map. These roller paths overlap and intersect with varying opacities creating a dynamic complexity. At the top of the painting, away from the gestural drama below, sits a small, rainbow gradient X-Ray of a brain. A pair of X-Ray hands, and other indecipherable X-Rays dot the rest of the painting, suggesting points of contingency and connection. There is an elliptical tension that brings us up from Diana’s inner psychological world back to the mental source of the action. This binary plays out again and again in other works, but here the two have been forced to play out contradictory impulses, it feels less integrated, less planned, less formal, and delivers a sense of playful urgency. All of this mental activity brings us back to the pathos in Jones’s paintings. The works in “Travel Light” were all done using reclaimed X-Rays beginning with her late Mother-in-Law. The symbolic significance of these materials isn’t lost on the viewer. Rather, this takes us deeper into the world of the artist, whose work is a means of keeping the past and present alive in an artistic practice full of searching and inquiry. Jason Stopa is a painter, writer, professor, and curator living and working in NYC. He received his BFA from Indiana University and his MFA from Pratt Institute. He has written for publications including Art in America, Hyperallergic, The Brooklyn Rail, and White Hot Magazine. His own work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally.
Tinkering, 2018, oil, spray enamel, silver leaf, and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Dream Screen Patrick, 2019, oil and acetate X-Ray print on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
Mensch, 2018, oil, silver leaf, and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 56 x 46 inches
Diana’s Beautiful Brain, 2019, oil, aluminum leaf, and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 76 x 54 inches
Melancholia, 2019, oil, silver leaf, and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 76 x 54 inches
The Here Thing, 2019, oil, silver leaf, acetate X-Ray print, and paper on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Sometimes, 2019, oil, aluminum leaf, acetate X-Ray print, and paper on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Boleyn, 2018, oil and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Blue Branches, 2018, oil, silver leaf, spray paint, and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Nike of Samothrace, 2018, oil, spray paint, and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 14 x 11 inches
Jodorowsky Tarot, 2018, silver leaf and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 11 x 9 inches
The Moment of Love, 2018, silver leaf and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 9 x 11 inches
Mary Jones b. Granite Falls, NC
EDUCATION MFA, BFA, University of Colorado, Boulder SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2019 Travel Light, High Noon Gallery, NYC 2017 Conversation (with Denise Adler), Hudson Guild Gallery, NYC 2016 Proxima b, John Molloy Gallery, NYC 2013 Studio 7D, NYC 2012 Floating Explosions (with Bobbie Oliver), The George Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2008 Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2006 Jancar Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, CA 2005 Cenci Gallery, Rome, Italy 2004 Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, CA Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art, NYC
2003 Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, CA 2002 Bower of Bliss, Cynthia Broan Gallery, New York, NY 2001 Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art, NYC Robert Green Fine Arts, Mill Valley, CA 2000 Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art, NYC 1995 Bill Maynes Gallery, NYC 1993 Tom Cugliani Gallery, NYC 1989 Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill, NC Ovsey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1988, 1986, 1985, 1983 Ovsey Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 1981 Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2019 Incise, Echo and Repeat, curated by Camilia Fallon and Kylie Heidenheimer 2018 Music for your Ears, OCCCA, Newport Beach, CA 3 Days at Custom Cabinets, Los Angeles, CA 2017 The Painted Desert, High Noon, NYC Alternative Facts, curated by Denise Adler, Pleiades Gallery, NYC Holding it Together, curated by Teri Hackett, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Future Past Perfect, MS Barbers Gallery, Curated by Lauren Comito, Los Angeles, CA 2015 Future Past Perfect, Projekt 722, Curated by Lauren Comito, Brooklyn, NY Repose, Hall St. Projects, Curated by Hovey Brock, Brooklyn, NY Phase III, Mammal Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2014 Cultural Guerrillas, Hudson Guild, Curated by Denise Adler, New York, NY Nature Doesn’t Knock, The George Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2013 Flux/Quirk, The George Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA Elven@7D, studio 7D, Curated by Allen Furbeck, New York, NY Little Languages, Coded Pictures, Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, NY 2012 Between the Two: Six Artists from New York, The George Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA 2011 Haywire, Storefront, Bushwick, NY Paper A-Z, Sue Scott Gallery, New York, NY Neo-Vitruvian: The Body Now, curated by Richard J. Goldstein, Hal Bromm gallery, New York, NY 2009 Williams Studio Art Faculty Exhibition, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA 2008 Works on Paper, Michael Steinberg Fine Art, New York, NY 2007 Diving in the Decadent Ditch of Des Essientes, New York, NY Dutch Barn Show, Clinton Corners, NY 2003 Timelines, Signal 66, Washington, D.C. 2002 Landscape, Lindsey Brown, New York, NY
2001 Four Painters, Lindsey Brown, New York, NY Works on Paper, Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art, New York, NY 2000 Group Show, Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art, New York, NY Le Salon, London, England 1999 Immediacies of the Hand, Hunter College, New York, NY 1998 Baroque Geometry, Marlborough Gallery, Chelsea, NY Jeffrey Coploff Fine Art, NYC 485.73482 Cycles per/sec, 76 Varick, New York, NY 1997 Summer Invitational, Steffany Martz, New York, NY Push, 450 B’way Gallery, New York, NY Stellar Spectra, Mary Barone, New York, NY The Enduring Presence, Roland Gibson Gallery, SUNY, Potsdam, NY 1996 The Enduring Presence, Ewing Gallery, U. Of Tenn., Knoxville, TN 1995 Group show, Kasmin Gallery, New York, NY 1994 Small Abstract Painting, Bill Maynes Gallery, New York, NY SELECTED COLLECTIONS The Broad Art Foundation, Los Angeles George and Betty Woodman, NYC John Guest Ltd. (London) Security Pacific Bank, Los Angeles Celebrity Cruises art collection Prudential Life Wells Fargo Bank The Carnation Company
BIBLIOGRAPHY Chambers, Christopher Hart, “Travel Light,” dArt International Magazine, https://www.dartmagazine. com/?p=608 , February 9, 2019 Goldner, Liz, “Nature Doesn’t Knock,” http://artscenecal.com/archive/810-qnature-doesnt-knockq Frank, Peter, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/haiku-reviews-_n_2397584.html 1/02/2013 Chapline, Jonathan, http://ffffffwalls.com/2012/11/mary-jones-chelsea/ Estenger, Max, http://maxestenger.blogspot.com/2012/05/in-studio-with-mary-jones.html. In The Studio with Mary Jones, May 26, 2012 Kienholz, Lyn. “L.A. Rising: SoCal Artists before 1980,” The California/International Arts Foundation 2010 Mallinson, Constance. Art in America, review, May 2007 Frank, Peter. “Addition/Reduction,” Mary Jones LA Weekly Wed. January 10, 2007 Chang, Richard. ARTnews, review, June 2007 Pagel, David. Los Angeles Times, Friday, Dec. 22, December 2006 Jashinsky, Judy. “time lines,” catalogue, 2003 Garwood, Deborah. “Bower of Bliss,” catalogue, 2002 Yablonsky, Linda. “Mary Jones,” catalogue, 2002 Bourbon, Matthew. NY Arts, “Mary Jones,” review, Feb. 2000 Sheets, Hilarie M. ARTnews, “Mary Jones,” review, June, 2000 Johnson, Ken. NY Times, “Baroque Geometry,” Friday, Jan. 8, 1999 Cotter, Holland. NY Times, “Immediacies of the Hand,” Friday, April 9, 1999 Smith, Roberta. NY Times, “Hothouse” review, Friday, Sept. 6, 1996 Barrett, Chris. “Happy Chaos,” Metro Pulse (Tennessee) 1996 Mills, Dan. “The Enduring Presence,” catalogue, 1996 Hirsch, Faye. “Mary Jones: Color Sense,” catalogue, 1995 Saltz, Jerry. Art in America, “A Year in the Life” Oct. 1994 Smith, Roberta. New York Times, “Review” Friday, Dec. 10, 1993 Frank, Peter. LA Weekly, “Art Pick of the Week” Friday, Dec. 8, 1989 Curtis, Cathy. Los Angeles Times, Calendar Galleries Friday, Nov. 24, 1989 Pincus, Robert L. Art in America, “Mary Jones At Ovsey” Sept. 1988 Donahue, Marlene. Los Angeles Times, Friday, Feb. 26, 1988, Part IV McKenna, Kristine. Los Angeles Times, Friday, Sept. 26, 1986 Part IV McCloud, Janet. ARTWEEK, “An Integration of Opposites,” March 9, 1985 Muchnic, Suzanne. Los Angeles Times, Friday, March 1, 1985 Part IV Pincus, Robert L. Los Angeles Times, Friday, Oct. 21, 1985 Christenberry, William. ARTFORUM, “Directions, 1983” Oct. 1983 Silverthorne, Jeanne. ARTFORUM, Oct. 1983 Ashbery, John. Newsweek, “Biennials Bloom In The Spring” Fleming, Lee. Images & Issues, “What’s At Issue Is The Issue” Sept/Oct 1983 Knight, Christopher. Los Angeles Herald Examiner, “California Living-Art Inc.” Drohojowska, Hunter. Los Angeles Herald Examiner, “Making Art In The M-Zone”, June 20, 1982 Knight, Christopher. Los Angeles Herald Examiner, “Mary Jones: Art That Runs Silent, Runs Deep,” April 11, 1982
Mary Jones | Travel Light February 7 - March 10, 2019 Edition of 100
Publisher: © 2019 Jared Linge HIGH NOON GALLERY
Art © 2018 - 2019 Mary Jones Text © 2019 Jason Stopa Photography: Adam Reich
All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, without prior permission from the publisher.
106 Eldridge St New York, NY. 10002 Hours: Wednesday - Sunday 11-6 highnoongallery.com
cover (detail): Melancholia, 2019, oil, silver leaf, and acetate X-Ray prints on canvas, 76 x 54 inches