“I like my pieces to look decorative and elegant. I find the softness of the female form incorporates these qualities and is more complementary to my pieces,” he says. “The latest works use color and shape rather gratuitously as a framing device, a way to move the eye and engage the viewer. Like insects are attracted to light, we are attracted to complexity. It’s not that simple works don’t attract us. But when something is imbued with ‘information’ we are pulled in to examine and define what we see. Color helps define the hundreds of shapes I use in my paintings, and the more color I use, the easier it becomes to define.”
Jones’ equal treatment of abstraction and figuration in his work stems from two of his great loves: high fashion and contemporary non-figurative painting. Although often considered unrelated (consumer-oriented fashion design and sublime, conceptual abstract art seem far apart in the traditional spectrum of low art), Jones argued that these forms of expression were compatible despite their superficial differences.
“A few years ago, I fell in love with contemporary non-representational painting and I thought, ‘I wish they would put a figure in it, I would like it more.'” So that’s what I did. Jones traces the origins of his aesthetic direction. “While it was fun, I felt like I was starting to no longer need people in my paintings.” I wanted to get more and more abstract with it. I’m sure we’ll see this in the coming years. “
The figure’s place in abstract art became clear as Jones surveyed the intricate designs on the catwalk. Luxurious and baroque, unwearable yet glamorous, the top fashion house’s haute couture collections echo the appealing compositional qualities he found in abstract art. Clever arrangements of color and texture outline the figures; these garments elevate the body, making it otherworldly and extraordinary.
“The late Alexander McQueen is a designer whose work inspires me to look at fashion in a different way. Each of his conceptual pieces is an elegant sculpture. I have a few copies of his books, but to be honest, you have to see the dynamics of his collections to be fascinating. ‘s: They become part of the art. I hope to achieve this balance in my work. I don’t want you to see a portrait of someone or just be swallowed up by an abstract clutter, but rather see a harmonious still dance of shapes that decorate the figure, where the figurative and non-figurative elements become one.”
The combination of abstraction and figuration in Jones’ work is an extensive process carried out through a variety of media. He hated keeping a sketchbook—he jokingly called it a “glorified, bound to-do list”—and drew on loose-leaf paper, playing with ideas for elaborate headdresses and flower arrangements. Choose a model and schedule a shoot. Jones spent hours poring over the photos, selecting various locations for the hands, neck, torso and face, then “Frankensteining” these features in Photoshop to lay the foundation for his character.
“Most of my paintings are very structured. Especially in the beginning. When I’m in the early stages of creating a new work, I like to come up with a loose formula: 30% structure, 70% chaos. This formula is sufficient for my need to ‘paint’ figurative objects,” Jones said when asked about his initial process. “Look at one of the pieces where shapes are scattered throughout the composition. Every straight edge and mechanical shape was pre-planned, right down to size and color. However, all the organic rounded shapes and splashes came about piecemeal.”
My work is a constant experiment, a balancing act exploring chaos and structure through various traditional media.“
After creating the characters digitally, Jones draws them on paper. The initial sketches are then scanned and further processed in Photoshop as the artist carefully arranges geometric shapes and abstract elements. The digital work is projected and tracked. The rest of the process is performed entirely in traditional media. First, Jones starts by filling in translucent colors with watercolor or ink. Then, layers of Prismacolor pencils, water-soluble wax pastels (“The blending capabilities are almost endless, blending with my fingers and a blending stump, each shows unique results.”) and water-soluble oil paints are layered onto the figure. The surrounding abstract elements were then rendered with acrylics.
We often look for meaning in works of art, as if the artist is supposed to convey a profound wisdom, an ideology that the viewer must decode from the image. While Erik Jones does not subscribe to the idea of painters as shamans or philosophers, his visual experiments themselves demonstrate another form of originality that is evident throughout his work: “When I began painting, I was not consciously engaged in any particular conceptual endeavor. And I didn’t necessarily have a point of view I wanted to express through painting. My work is a constant experiment, a balancing act of chaos and structure, explored through various traditional media. Perhaps that is some form of exploration in itself.” Concept? ”*
This article was originally published as the cover feature of High Fructose Issue 27, which is now sold out. Like we did? Subscribe now and get our latest print edition as part of your subscription here.
