Artist:
Andrew McNeile Jones
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Andrew McNeile Jones studied at Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, graduating in 1982.
Andrew’s paintings explore the importance of memory. His early works were sharply lit genre paintings influenced by film lighting and the still lifes of William Nicholson and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. These interior narrative paintings often included furniture and articles of clothing in rooms only recently left empty, leaving the viewer to wonder as to the identity of the characters who may have just left the scene.
Andrew’s most recent paintings take as their starting point memories of a childhood growing up in “the dreary English suburbs in the shabby 1970s”. The subject of this series, ongoing since 2018, are the searing experiences of teenage yearning; the moments, the faces, the films, the tentative fumblings, the hopes and dreams that shape us.
Andrew’s process begins with found images; old family photographs, magazine cuttings or film stills which might stimulate associated memories – a proustian quality of transporting one to another time and place. Preparatory ideas responding to this source material are developed in quick oil sketches that may or may not be amalgamated or slowly simplified before being transferred to the canvas. This first layer of paint is then continually worked and re-worked; sections are scraped back, shapes are overlaid onto the ghosts of others; select areas are worked up in fine detail, others heightened with paint splattered, sprayed or thrown at the canvas as the work evolves.
Andrew’s work has been shown in solo exhibitions throughout the UK and Europe, including: New Work, Galerie Anagama, Paris (2015); The Cloths of Heaven, Go Figurative, Hampstead, London (2014); Silent Light, Go Figurative, Notting Hill, London (2011).
His work has been curated into numerous group exhibitions including: Oxford Art Society Open (2021); Discerning Eye, The Mall Galleries, London (2020, 2013, 2015); A World Without End, No Barking Lockdown show, London (2020); GoWithYamo, Hoxton 253 Art Space, London (2020); Spring Show, Elizabeth James Gallery, London (2019); London Ultra, The Bargehouse, London (2018); Galerie Anagama, Paris (2013, 2015); Go Figurative, London (2011, 2012, 2014); The Art Gallery, Tetbury (2010 - 2018); Enid Lawson, London (2010 - 2013); Broadway Modern, Broadway (2008 -2010); and Artspace, Henley on Thames (2006 - 2008).
Andrew has also participated in numerous art fairs throughout the UK, including The Affordable Art Fairs in Battersea, Hampstead, and Bristol, as well as international fairs in Milan, Utrecht and Amsterdam. His work has also been published in publications including Art Hole Magazine (2020) Art of England (2012); International Artist (2014); Elle Decoration; Homes and Gardens; Vogue; and The Independent.