Design and Art Australia Online

Jonathan Jones spent his early years living with family members in Sydney, Bathurst and a small town near Tamworth. The greatest influence in his fragmented childhood was his grandmother, a Wiradjuri woman from Bathurst who encouraged him to be proud of his Aboriginal heritage. After dropping out of school he enrolled at TAFE and then spent a short time enrolled at the College of Fine Arts, University of NSW.
The Boomalli Aboriginal artists’ cooperative gave him the opportunity to work as a curator, and this evolved into a career at the Art Gallery of NSW, first in public programs and then as assistant curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art. In recent years he has worked closely with remote Aboriginal communities in central Australia.
While he was working at Boomalli, Jones began to experiment with materials, including making photograms from Vegemite. He became fascinated with corrugated iron and fencing wire, triggered by family stories of his great-grandfather who was a fencer, and lines of wire became lines of light.
Jones first came to critical attention with his works made from straight beams of light, and the way he loaded them with multiple meanings. As his work has matured he has become interested in the truths behind the many layers of history that cover the land. This is reflected in his most recent commission, the Kaldor Your great idea project which will take place in 2016

Writers:

Georgouras, Alexander
De Lorenzo, Catherine

Date written:

2010

Last updated:

2014