Artists - PAUL JONES - Biography

Born in 1967, Jones is a Londoner who shows internationally, (Germany, Japan), but most recently in a one man show at the gallery Space Station 65 in Dulwich, London. Graduating with a first class degree from Chelsea School of Art in 1997, he went on to complete his studies at the Royal College of Art and now keeps a studio in Tulse Hill.

His explorations of familiar materials start from the question: "What if.?" and carry on until a new form emerges. So a cardboard box sitting innocently against a wall may be found to contain, on closer inspection, a complete undulating landscape at once recognisable and utterly alien; a coherent section of otherness. The material (ordinary cardboard) makes it feel close to something familiar, but the mathematical precision of the interlocking forms brings with it a coolness that distances us at the same time. By these means Jones first lures us in, then cuts us adrift from our usual points of reference so that we cannot tell if we are looking at something vast or, perhaps, tiny; thus disorientated we have no choice but to enter his world.

This approach can be detected in all of Jones's pieces though they do not look alike. Each material that catches and holds his interest (card, tubing, styrofoam, popcorn, bubble wrap) provides him with a new point of departure and a set of characteristics that suggest to him different structures and forms.

Some works Jones animates by the use of light or movement while others are cunningly placed where their presence may not immediately be apparent. In contrast, there are works that occupy the whole of a floor space, or hang beneath most of a ceiling, invading 'our' space with what could be a threatening presence were it not for the delicacy of their making and the lightness of Jones's touch.