Christopher Jones
Senior Lecturer in Painting & Undergraduate DPD

  • Email: christopher.jones@ncl.ac.uk
  • Telephone: +44 (0) 191 222 6046
  • Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 8013
  • Address: Fine Art
    School of Arts & Cultures
    The Quadrangle
    University of Newcastle
    NE1 7RU

Introduction

Christopher Jones's current practice centres on a number of inter-related interests: sites of change as a means to explore themes of erasure, trace and memory; and notions of the "unmonumental". Whilst the interest in change and its links to models of time and memory have been at the centre of Jones's work since the 1990's, his interest in the unmonumental is more recent. The interest in the unmonumental is in developing work that, via simplicity of mediation, achieves the authority of the quietly spoken: the whisper rather than the scream.  

In 2011 Jones has carried out two artist's residencies which explored different aspects of the "unnmonumental". The first, at Hill End, NSW, Australia, related notions of the understated to a sense of place. The second at the Bundanon Trust, also in New South Wales, resulted in a series of "unmonuments" which made use of found and reclaimed material.

Christopher Jones studied at Newcastle University and Chelsea School of Art, London and was Monbusho Scholar at Kyoto University of Arts from 1987-89. Over the past twenty five years he has exhibited in the U.K. and overseas as part of collaborative projects with artists from Australia, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea and Slovakia.

Roles and Responsibilities: 

Currently:

- Fine Art Senior Tutor
- Member of MFA Board of Studies, BA & MFA Exam Boards, Staff Student Committee, School Teaching & Learning Committee and Fine Art Teaching & Learning Committee.

Qualifications

1983 - M.A. (Painting), Chelsea School of Art.
1981 - B.A. Fine Art, Newcastle University.

Previous Positions

1989-95 - Visiting artist to Sunderland Polytechnic, Coventry Polytechnic, Kunstseminar Metzingen, Delhi College of Art, Madras College of Art, Trivandrum College of Art.
1987-9 - Monbusho Scholar, Kyoto University of Arts, Japan.
1986-7 - Artist-in-Residence, School of Art, H.C.H.E., Hull.
1982-3 - Fellow in Fine Art, Glos.CAT., Cheltenham.

 

Website: http://www.chrisjonesweb.com 

Research Interests

Christopher Jones works with painting, printmaking and photography and is interested in how these media can be combined. He is interested in the blurring of boundaries not only in terms of technical process but also, for example, between two and three dimensions or the static and the moving image. Much of his work over the past five years has been concerned with establishing visual equivalents to the structures of thought and memory, and the passing of time. For example, projects have developed in response to revisiting Japan 18 years after completing his studies as a Monbusho Research Scholar, 1987-89. Most recently he has begun working with ideas of the unmonumental: employing forms of painting, collage and assemblage to make work which deals, in various ways, with notions of the understated. 

Since 1992 many of Jones exhibition projects have been made within the context of a dialogue with a network of artists - from Germany, Italy, Slovakia, India, Australia and Japan - interested in artist-led international exchange. In 1994 he was responsible for the first major survey in the U.K. of contemporary art from post '89 Slovakia and, as a result of a number of projects with Slovak artists, has been instrumental in raising the profile of British artists in Slovakia, bringing their work to the premier galleries in the country, and Slovakian artists in Britain. He has arranged artist's residencies at the University of Newcastle for artists from Slovakia, India and Australia.

Current Work

Current studio work is centred on two main strands that often overlap: 1) Notions of the unmonumental and 2) A response to sites that evidence change: through trace, residue, the found object, erasure and reclamation. Visits to Australia, Korea and Japan have informed the development of work around these themes

Future Research

Future research will further develop projects of work which were initiated in 2011 as part of two artist's residencies  in Australia: one in the former gold rush town of Hill End, and the other at the Bundanon Trust in NSW. The first project considers the unmonumental in relation to place, the second considers the unmonumental in relation to choices of material, scale and display.

http://www.chrisjonesweb.com 

Postgraduate Supervision

- Supervised Dr. Chun-Chao Chiu's practice-based Ph.D. research which considered the potential of eastern aesthetics to direct a contemporary installation practice.
- Supervised the initial stage of Dr. Maarten Vanvolsem's studio-based investigation of the potential of the still photograph to record time-span (completed at University of Leuven, Belgium).
- Currently co-supervising Matt Smith's exploration of the relationship between memory, repetition and forms of both video and still photography.

Esteem Indicators                                       

2011    -  Bundanon Trust Artist in Residence.
          -  Hill End Residency award (BRAG & Arts NSW).
2008    -  Daiwa Foundation Small Grant Award.
2007    -  Northern Print Bursary.
          -  Asem Duo Fellowship.
2006    -  Arts & Humanities Research Council Award.
            -  Arts Council England Grant for the Arts (Individual).
2004    -  Arts Council England Grant for the Arts (Individual).
1997    -  Rootstein Hopkins Foundation Award.
1998    -  Northern Arts Award.
1996    -  Northern Print Award.
1995    -  British Council Visitorship to Delhi, Madras & Trivandrum, India.
1994    -  Openshaw Printmaking Residency Award.
1987-9 -  Monbusho Scholarship to Japan.
1984    -  Boise Scholarship to Spain.

Undergraduate Teaching

Teaches into all years of the B.A. Fine Art studio programme

Postgraduate Teaching

Supervises students on the Master of Fine Art programme.