Co|So Exhibitions :: J.B. Jones - Still Light

This spring, the Copley Society of Art has the pleasure of presenting the solo exhibition of realist painter J.B. Jones entitled Still Light.  An architect turned artist, Jones has devoted himself to painting since 1994 and specializes in large, abstract works depicting ordinary objects.  Jones’s hyper-realistic paintings combine the ambiguous with the familiar on a monumental scale in an effort to engender a heightened sensory experience in his viewer.

J.B. Jones, Pink Suite, oil on canvas, 46 x 50

In Pink Suite the object of focus is a rectangular glass sugar dish filled with different colored packets of sweetener.  The dish is positioned on an angle and is reflected on an unknown surface.   The transparency of the glass dish magnifies and distorts the sugar packets into staggered abstractions that electrify the canvas.  The reflections of the packets become live-wires of energy as they extend down and out of the painting into the space of the viewer.  The precise use of light brings out the most minute details and highlights the contrast of bright colors against a dark background.  The ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary as the painting pulses with the creative force of the artist.

J.B. Jones, Blue Clip, oil on canvas, 42 x 54

In Blue Clip the small-turned-monumental objects take over the canvas, merely suggesting a sense of pictorial space.  The viewer is confronted with a close-up of a glass jar filled to the brim with blue metallic paper clips.  Colors swirl and collide as they are reflected off of the metal and glass surfaces and the use of line creates a dizzying sensation as the eye attempts to trace any one path of movement.  The attention to extreme detail and texture suggest the use of airbrush though the artist remained loyal to his paint brush.  Jones rejects the static, functional qualities of these office supplies and transforms them into pictorial inventions of dynamism and energy.  

These two works are but a few examples of the possibilities explored by J.B Jones in his unique creative process. The rest of J.B. Jones’s work can be viewed in the exhibition on display from April 5^th until May 10^th or online at copleysociety.org. We look forward to seeing you in the gallery soon!

Members' Reception*
Saturday, April 7 5:30 - 7:30
Members: Free | Non-Members: $10

Artist Talk
Saturday, April 14 | 1:00 - 3:00pm