Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

Erik Jones Makes European Solo Debut with “In Colour”

Hi-Fructose Vol. 27 cover artist Erik Jones paints alluring figures that he juxtaposes with dynamic, abstract strokes of bright colors. He seeks to find the right balance between his realistic style of painting figures with abstraction in his work. Jones recently made his European debut with his latest body of work, titled "In Colour" at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome. The title makes a references to the vibrant colors that surround and enhance the intensity of his female figures, likened to a hurricane. With these new works, Jones deepens his exploration of gesture and abstraction to an almost chaotic effect.

Dor

Hi-Fructose Vol. 27 cover artist Erik Jones paints alluring figures that he juxtaposes with dynamic, abstract strokes of bright colors. He seeks to find the right balance between his realistic style of painting figures with abstraction in his work. Jones recently made his European debut with his latest body of work, titled “In Colour” at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome. The title makes a references to the vibrant colors that surround and enhance the intensity of his female figures, likened to a hurricane. With these new works, Jones deepens his exploration of gesture and abstraction to an almost chaotic effect. He says, “The figures are used as an aesthetic anchor, holding the viewer’s attention to a recognizable form, while exploring colorful, nonrepresentational abstractions. In a way, the figures make the chaos palette-able. Many of the graphic elements in this current body of work are a slight departure from some of the older work. I wanted the graphic aesthetic to take on digital qualities and appear to be more naive and childlike in the approach. As if an inexperienced, non-artistic person were exploring a digital drawing program for the first time. The intention is to present ability and craft juxtaposed with chaos and disorder.”

“In Colour” by Erik Jones is currently on view at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome, Italy through December 1st, 2015.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
The figures in Erik Jones's paintings are enmeshed in generous heaps of abstract marks, subsumed in the saturated hues of cerulean blue, aqua and crimson. Yet the New York-based artist (featured on the cover of Hi-Fructose Vol. 27) strikes a careful balance between abstraction and figuration, using the realistically-painted character as a compositional element in equilibrium with his design elements. While Jones has said in the past that his intentions are primarily to create visual pleasure, his upcoming show at Hashimoto Contemporary in San Francisco, "Motion," delves into symbolic territory.
Oil painter Vasilis Avramidis, first featured in Hi-Fructose Vol. 26, produces modern portraits of isolated landscapes, often depicting architecture in states of overgrowth. At the time of this interview, Avramidis confessed that he has settled in to his third studio location this year, a small studio in northern Greece. It is here that he has been putting the finishing touches on a new group of dramatically lit scenes based on memory and the overlooked. According to Avramidis, these paintings are as much about creating a familiar sense of place within a moment as they are about the absence of humans within the architecture. His latest works will be on view at The Contemporary London, located at Space W10 which opens on November 13th.
This Thursday, October 9, Erik Jones (HF Vol. 27 cover artist) will unveil a new series of work at Joseph Gross Gallery in NYC. The exhibition, titled “So Far So Good”, is a three-person show, which also features the art of Hueman and Alex Yanes. Hi-Fructose caught up with Jones at his Brooklyn studio as he put the finishing touches on his new paintings.
Kazuki Takamatsu (HF Vol. 33 cover artist) paints layers of translucent, white gouache that appear to float over his matte, black backgrounds. His hologram-like, female characters look digitized, though they're executed entirely by hand. That's because the artist turns to depth mapping software for inspiration for his images and painstakingly renders his figures as if they were parceled into pixels. For his upcoming solo show "Even a Doll Can Do It," Takamatsu presents a new series of paintings centered around ghostly depictions of nymph-like girls floating in cyberspace. The exhibition opens February 14 at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome and will be on view through April 4.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List