Locust Jones Press Release

GALERIE PATRICK EBENSPERGER
Press Kit
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Locust Jones – a descent into the mass media maelström
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28 November 2014 until 24 January 2015
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Galerie Patrick Ebensperger presents the exhibition by Locust Jones a descent into the mass media
maelström in the former Crematory at Plantagenstraße 30, 13347 in Berlin-Wedding from November 28th,
2014 until January 24th, 2015.!
The opening will take place on Thursday, November 27th, 2014 from 7 to 11pm.!
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a descent into the mass-media maelström!
Edgar Allan Poe’s well-known tale, “A Descent into the Maelström” (1841) is the report by a fisherman
from the Lofoten archipelago of the monstrous whirling grandeur and cruelty of an enormous whirlpool
into which he plunges, but does not drown.!
Locust Jones opens himself to the endless procession of text and images from the web, TV, radio, shopwindows, advertising, magazines, and newspapers. He absorbs and processes them, and then draws
what has impressed him most, in an artistic process of radical contemporary witness. He is a fighter who
brings to paper, with heroic immediacy (and so transforms) the visual and linguistic assaults of the media
vortex to which he and all of us are subjected. !
His drawings are a “stream of consciousness” which gives shape to the confusion and unease in the face
of the catastrophic processing of our world and artistically reverses it. In an interview, Jones said that his
art functions as a “cathartic biographical diary”1 which, in an obsessive stream of pictures, attempts to
gain control of the flood of pictures and news. There is great power in his drawings—they are expressive,
conceptual, tragic-comic, affirmative, and resistant caricatures. He dispenses with any attempt to
ingratiate himself or show calligraphic refinement. The power of his line-drawing and painting works is
obvious, but in reality his art penetrates much deeper.!
It is only logical that Jones has moved into work that is much longer in format in recent years; he decided
not to cut his rolls of paper any more, but simply to go on unrolling them as soon as the ink is dry. This
artistic decision has led him to the exhibition of an extremely long roll of paper: “Bankrupt, Infuriated, and
Confused,” which is 100x10,000 cm, on which he worked from September 2011 to August 2012. Exposed
on this 100-meter-long drawing are the scoundrels and lies, the crises and wars, depictions of Batman,
and self-portraits from an entire year. The flow of time is artistically caught in the names and faces,
headlines and scandals, in a wild mix and without any order.!
Locust Jones works with ink, graphite, and gouache, on extremely durable Italian Magnani paper,
spontaneously and without preparatory sketches. Here the course of a year acquires a physicalpresence
and appears to have been unrolled in the form of an ornamental vortex. “Bankrupt , Infuriated, and
Confused" dominates the gallery space in a great, expansive spiral.!
“He saw that the Maelström is a beautiful and awesome creation.”!
—Edgar Allan Poe!
1 Jones in an Interview
2 E.A.Poe:“A Descent into the Maelström“, erschienen 1841!
Armin Hartenstein!
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Galerie Patrick Ebensperger zeigt die Ausstellung a descent into the mass media maelström von Locust
Jones im ehemaligen Krematorium Weeding, Plantagenstrasse 30, 13347 Berlin vom 28. November 2014
bis zum 24. Januar 2015.!
Die Eröffnung findet am 27. November 2014 con 19 bis 21 Uhr statt.!
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a descent into the mass media maelström!
Die legendäre Erzählung von Edgar Allan Poe „A Descent into the Maelström“ ist der Bericht eines
Lofotenfischers von der ungeheuerlichen wirbelnden Erhabenheit und Grausamkeit des enormen
Wasserstrudels in den er stürzte und doch nicht unterging.!
Locust Jones stellt sich den unendlichen Massen von Text und Bild aus Web,TV, Radio, Displays,
Werbung, Magazinen und Zeitungen. Er absorbiert und verarbeitet sie und zeichnet was ihn beeindruckt
in einem künstlerischen Prozess radikaler Zeitzeugenschaft auf. Er ist ein Kämpfer, der die ihm, und uns,
zugemuteten visuellen und sprachlichen Angriffe des medialen Vortex in heroischer Direktheit aufs Papier
bringt und verwandelt.!
Seine Zeichnungen sind ein „stream of consciousness“, der seiner Konfusion und Unruhe angesichts der
katastrophalischen Verfasstheit der Welt Form gibt und sie künstlerisch aufhebt. Seine Kunst fungiert als
„kathartisches biografisches Tagebuch“1 , das in einem besessenen bildnerischen Strom den Fluss an
Bildern und News zu bannen vermag.!
Eine große Kraft steckt in seinen Zeichnungen. Sie sind expressiv, karikierend, konzeptuell, tragischkomisch, affirmativ und widerständig. Mit Gefälligkeiten oder kalligrafischer Rafinesse hält er sich nicht
auf. Die zeichnerische und malerische Kraft seiner Werke ist augenfällig, doch dringt seine authentische
Kunst sehr viel weiter.!
Nur folgerichtig entstanden in den letzten Jahren überlange Formate, da er entschied die Papierrolle nicht
mehr in Formate zu schneiden, sondern einfach weiter zu rollen, sobald die Tinte getrocknet war. Diese
künstlerische Entscheidung führt zu einer installativen Präsentation der sehr langen Zeichnungsrolle:
„Bankrupt, Infuriated and Confused“ 100x10000cm, entstanden zwischen September 2011 und August
2012.!
Auf den einhundert Metern der Zeichnung finden sich die Schurken und Lügen, Krisen und Kriege,
Batman und Selbstportraits eines Jahres. Die fliessende Zeit ist in Namen und Gesichtern, Schlagzeilen
und Skandalen wild und ohne Hierarchie künstlerisch gefasst. Spontan und direkt zeichnet Locust Jones
mit Tusche, Tinte, Graphit und Gouachefarbe auf sehr strapazierfähiges koreanisches Hanji-Papier. Die
Dauer eines Jahres bekommt physische Präsenz und erscheint entrollt in Form eines ornamentalen
Vortex. !
Als grosse raumfüllende Spirale beherrscht „Bankrupt, Infuriated and Confused“die Ausstellungshalle der
Galerie.!
“He saw that the Maelström is a beautiful and awesome creation.”!
—Edgar Allan Poe!
1 Jones in einem Interview
2 E.A.Poe:“A Descent into the Maelström“, erschienen 1841!
Armin Hartenstein!
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Born in New Zealand and now living in Australia, Locust Jones works have been primarily influenced by
his travels and close attention and concern to current world political issues.!
Through his works on paper, Jones challenges and delves into issues of contemporary politics. His style
of commentary can be said to tackle the big picture head on, addressing issues of epic proportions,
interspersing imagery from the media, newspapers, television and the internet, as well as personal
experiences of current political situations in the world. Whether it be climate change, war in Iraq, ghosts of
tortured forests or the greed of the global Financial industry.!
Locust Jones exhibits throughout New Zealand and Australia, and has had solo exhibitions in New York,
Germany, and Lebanon. He has participated in artists residencies in Lebanon, Beirut and New York. He is
the winner of the Hazelhurst works on paper award in 2009 and the Dominik Mersch Gallery Award 2010.
He has works held in numerous public and private collections throughout New Zealand and Australia.!
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LOCUST JONES!
SOLO EXHIBITIONS!
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2014!
Burn Freeze, David Krut Projects, NY, USA!
Made in Johannesburg, Solander, Wellington, NZ!
Lifters and Leaners, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Aus!
Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin, Germany!
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2013!
24HR News Feed, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand!
Steep Descent, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney, Australia!
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2012!
Boycott, Isolate, Sabotage, Whitespace, Auckland, New Zealand!
Some mistakes were perhaps made, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales!
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2011!
Asia one, Hong Kong art fair for Dominik Mersch Gallery.!
Revolt, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney!
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2010!
Mediated By The Media, White Space, Auckland, New Zealand!
Lozenge of dawn, 24Hr Art, Darwin, Australia!
Elevating a disastrous situation into a catastrophe, MOP Projects, Sydney, Australia!
Untitled, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, Australia !
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2009!
HitchHiking in the Donut of Death, Gallery 9, Sydney, Australia!
Back-Handed Bullets Whitespace, Auckland, New Zealand!
Ride it ‘til it dies Rear View, Melbourne!
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2008!
I’ll Burn that bridge when I come to it Until Never, Melbourne, Australia!
Final Notice Centre of Contemporary Art, Christc hurch, N.Z.!
The Bird Agents Tin Sheds Gallery, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia!
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2007!
Clearing Station Centre of Contemporary Art, Christchurch, New Zealand!
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2006!
Spin Cycle Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India!
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2005!
Live by the Sword Mahara Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand!
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2004!
Poverty Jet Set Espace SD Gallerie, Beirut, Lebanon!
Amnesia> Beyrouth Riviera Gallery, Brooklyn, New York!
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selected)!
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2014!
Redlands Art Award, Sydney, Aus!
Giving Voice, Salamanca Arts Centre, Hobart, Tas!
Nature Nurture, Karen Woodbury Gallery!
A General Map of caves, Hawkesbury Regional Art Gallery, Sydney, Aus!
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2013!
Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin, Germany!
Down to the line, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Australia!
Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle, WA!
Unsettled, Recent acquisitions of Australian Contemporary art, Art Gallery of South Australia!
Fauvette Laurio Travelling Art Scholarship, SCA, Sydney University, Aus!
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2012!
The Lookout, National Art School Gallery, Sydney!
Excavation, The Armory, Sydney Olympic Park, Sydney!
Drawing the line, Whitespace, Auckland, New Zealand!
Through your eyes, Korean Cultural Foundation, Sydney!
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2011!
5 x 3, Kunstraum Dusseldorf, Germany Sub Text, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia !
2010!
Free Hand, Museum of Modern Art, Heide, Victoria, Australia!
Navigators, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, Australia!
No right turn, Penrith Regional Gallery & The Lewers Bequest, Sydney, Australia!
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2009!
I Walk The Line New Australian Drawing, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia!
SMAC Awards, GBK, Sydney, Australia!
The written word in contemporary art, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne, Australia!
The June Fourth Incident, Serial Space, Sydney. Something I said Helen Gory Gallery, Melbourne,
Australia!
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2008!
888Exhibition, China Heights Gallery, Sydney!
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2007!
Riviera Real Estate, Riviera Gallery, Brooklyn, New York!
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2005!
Diversity 1, Sulkin Secant Gallery, Santa Monica, California!
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1999!
Sydney Beirut - Beirut Sydney Espace SD Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon!
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Exhibition 28 November until 24 January 2015 !
Opening Thursday November 27 from 7 to 11 pm
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Galerie Patrick Ebensperger
Plantagenstraße 30, 13347 Berlin-Wedding
+52° 32’ 47.00”, +13° 21’ 58.64”
www.ebensperger.net
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Opening Hours Tuesday-Saturday from 12 to 6 pm
Press Contact: [email protected]
Tel +49 30 46065821
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