LAURA JONES DIRTY PRETTY THINGS
Together with Olsen Gallery and Olsen Annexe, celebrated Sydney-based artist Laura Jones presents two highly anticipated exhibitions of new work. Staged just one week apart, the solo presentations herald Jones’ return to still life subjects, a significant departure from her recent bodies of work made around sombre themes of climatic degradation. Painting flowers always instils a certain hope in me”, she says. ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ will open first in Olsen’s Jersey Road gallery, featuring a collection of oils made after local flower shop interiors and their creations. Institutions in their own right, Grandiflora, Potts Point (where the artist worked for many years), and Bess, Paddington, set the stage for Jones’ intoxicating displays. Retained in these paintings is the material truth of floristry, an art-form complete with its own dirtiness. Like painting itself, there is mess and adrenaline, there are long nights and deadlines. The artist recalls having to pick rose thorns out of her calloused hands after a busy day. Jones follows the lifecycle of her floral muses, painting them with skilled brushwork before they wilt. She embraces unashamedly her feminine and ‘decorative’ subject, one that is inherently dirty before it is beautiful. The works go one step further, asserting the relevance and rigour of still life painting against attempts to deem it secondary. These forthcoming displays offer us great insight into Laura Jones’ distinctive way of looking and attest to her positioning as one of the great Australian painters working today.
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Grandiflora Interior, 2021 oil on linen 152 x 198 cm #31668 $18,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Flower Cave, 2021 oil on linen 78 x 61 cm #31666 $6,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Glitter, 2021 oil on linen 79 x 61 cm #31667 $6,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones The Whale and the Snail, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31672 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Balloons, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31661 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Bubble buddies, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31663 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Fading Flannels, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31664 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Fall Again, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31665 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Notes, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31669 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Rosebud Floor, 2021 oil on linen 112 x 137 cm #31670 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Still Life on Oxford Street, 2021 oil on linen 112 x 137 cm #31671 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Winged Everlasting Days, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31673 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Peonies, 2021 oil on linen 137 x 112 cm #31676 $11,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com
Laura Jones Bess Shop Interior, 2021 oil on linen 152 x 198 cm #31662 $18,000
63 Jersey Road Woollahra NSW 2025 T: +61 2 9327 3922 F: +61 2 9327 3944 ABN 38 088 015 730 E: info@olsengallery.com W: www.olsengallery.com