Contact: lygonben@gmail.com
Born 1987, Frankston, Victoria
Jones’ paintings arrive through the artist’s fascination with generations of a community and the presence of artefacts which take pride of place on their front lawns, gardens and houses; curiosities he observes as a local, and a phenomenon of visual vernacular some but not all neighbourhoods possess.
Primarily represented as distortions, his subjects come to survey the charming absurdness of bespoke water features and letterboxes, as well as everyday things like padlocks, pets and fences. The works are blunt and peculiar in appearance, steeped in heavy applications of paint. Thick black outlines divide their timber surfaces and are also used to outline his subjects with deliberate humour and carry a sentiment of ‘staking ones own’, remaining quintessential to Jones’ previous works and how he now frames the image of his neighbourhood.
His acknowledgement of repeated motifs and a plethora of recognisable yet distinctly-Coburg visual cues is acutely expressed through his decision to delineate each subject he selects as one distinct work and also foregrounds the idea of existing singularities, which as a gestalt inform the complexities of what a colloquial image might look like, reflecting several of the dominant ideas for the exhibition and the importance of viewing Jones’ pictures together. The various motifs and emblematic ideas he presents also include examinations between asymmetry and balance, isolated sentiments and idiosyncratic designs which inform and result from a sense of collective identity, and the fragile line between the decorative and the iconic.
Ben Jones is an artist living and working in Melbourne. He has exhibited regularly in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and New York. Jones is the founder of small publisher ‘No One Special’ who have published numerous titles and participated in Book Fairs, both locally and abroad. Jones has self published 29 titles relating to his own art practice since 2010. Jones also co-founded TANS Gallery. TANS went on to exhibit 38 artists over a 2 year period.
Solo Exhibitions
2022 - THE LAST TIME I TOOK A BATH, I WAS A BABY
Produce Gallery - Melbourne - 16th of Sept - 15th Oct
2019 - Cat & Dog Hands - Coco - Melbourne - 24 - 26th May
2017 - One Foot in The Grove - Fort Delta - Melbourne - 4th - 27th May
Group Exhibitions
2019 - David Is Dead - David Gallery, Melbourne, 8th - 17th Nov
2018 - The Joke is on You, Kudos Gallery, Sydney, 3rd Apr - 21st Apr
2017 - Glen Ayr, Lon Gallery, Melbourne, 15th Mar - 8th Apr
2017 - Project 17: Radical Immanence, Anna Pappas Gallery, Melbourne, 10th Feb - 18th Mar
2016 - Drowning in a Bird Bath, Tans Martial Arts, Melbourne,10th-12th Dec
2016 Spring 1883, Fort Delta, The Windsor Hotel, Melbourne,17th - 21st Aug
2016 - Here's to Future Days, Fort Delta, Melbourne, 30th Mar - 13th Apr.
2016 - Milk Carton Meerkat Manor, Tans Martial Arts, Melbourne, 5th Feb (curated/contributed)
2015 - Suburb and Night, Tans Martial Arts, Melbourne, 13th Nov (curated/contributed )
2015 - No One Special 'RGB', Tinning Street Gallery, Melbourne, 7th -17th May (curated/contributed)
2014 - Somewhere Over the Rainbow, Federation Square Residency, Melbourne, 11th - 14th Nov
2014 - Zonk Vision 'Pocket Holiday', Canberra Contemporary Art Space, 3rd Oct
2014 - Self Kelp, 7Dunham, Brooklyn, New York, 26th Sep - Nov 5th
2014 - Pocket Holiday, Spectacle Theater, Brooklyn, New York, 18th Sep
2014 - Pocket Holiday, Babycastles, Manhattan, New York 14th Sep
2013 - Datashop Systems, The Loop, Canberra, 9th - 16th Oct
2013 - ZV Live - Underbelly Art Festival, Cockatoo Island, Syd, 3-4th Aug
2013 - Right Side of the Tracks, Knight St, Footscray, Melb, 20th Jun
2012 - Well Wishes, House of Bricks, Collingwood, Melb, 30th Mar