Rachel Jones creates works on paper, sculpture and paintings. Through her bold and intense paintings, Jones explores ways of finding a visual language through which to convey abstract concepts. Using shape, form and composition, she creates a tension in her work that is enhanced by her balance of rich colours, from warm, fiery reds to cool blues and greens. She creates texture through her layered use of oil paint and oil sticks, applied to imperfect, raw-edged canvases, producing works that almost resemble landscapes.
Lick your teeth, they so clutch stems from this wider body of work investigating identity and representation of self. Through this seemingly abstract and visceral painting, Jones is inviting the viewer to see something of her own presence and lived experiences. Jones is interested in creating images that explore the Black Interior, the depth of her own interiority and how, as a Black woman, it consists of an autonomous, imaginary and multifaceted experience. Jones has questioned how the Black body has been read and depicted through the history of art, researching the representation of Black figures in the arts from the 18th century and in contemporary society, and addressing it by pulling these explorations into her own work. Recently she has been using abstract forms of mouths and teeth to suggest a literal entry point to the interior and the self.
Jones’s work joins the Towner’s permanent collection with its strength in modern British and contemporary works. The curators are also keen to investigate and address a historic lack of diversity and under-representation of women in the public collections, through a long-standing mission of acquiring and exhibiting young and emerging artists. Jones’s work adds another dimension to the varied collection of work by dynamic emerging artists.
