[image]
[title]Turns out it’s not the eyes that are the window to the soul, but the teeth. At least in Rachel Jones’s art they are. Her ultra-vivid take on abstraction – all endless clashing colours and textures and shapes – finds inspiration in an oral fixation, with all the shapes based on teeth, tongues and uvulas. It’s like Clyfford Still with a degree in dentistry, but Jones’s beautiful canvases also explore all the hidden meanings in smiles and frowns, the messages we send with our mouths, and the endless racial and culture symbolism of teeth, making her the most interesting abstract painter working today.
What would you say your art is about?
’I’m interested in exploring the subtle ways that colour can be used to describe or communicate ideas around interiority. Abstraction allows me to approach this in an experiential way, using colour, texture, and line to stimulate physical and psychological responses in the viewer. Colours have strong cultural associations with certain moods, emotions or states of being. I’m fascinated by the fact that subtle contradictions underlying my palette can create feelings beyond what we usually associate with specific hues. For example, something bright is not necessarily happy, and combining certain colours together can be calming or alluring or an act of confrontation.’
What inspires you?
‘I collect random pictures of stuff I see in books and on the internet, but I’m mostly inspired by literature and nature. I love Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Kevin Quashie, Claudia Rankine, and Gwendolyn Brooks for how they use language to achieve critical and poetic expressions that reconfigure our common understanding of the black lived experience. Besides that, gardening, music, friends and family are very formative.’
What are the challenges of being an artist in London?
‘Studios have become very unaffordable and it’s causing a migration out of the city which is exciting in some ways because it decentralises London as the ideal place for artists to work, but it's really important for artists to have the option of making work within London without being forced out by high studio rents.’
What one thing could be done to better support young artists in London?
‘Studios that are affordable and run ethically, and mentorship programmes for people once they're out of education so they have support in transitioning from being in an educational institution, to being an independent maker.’
What would you do with the Turbine Hall?
‘I’d stage “Hey, Maudie”, the opera I made in collaboration with Victoria Adukwei-Bulley, Joseph Howard and the Roberts Institute of Art, on a much larger scale, with a full orchestra, a huge choir, stage and lighting design, costumes… the whole shebang.’
Bengi Unsal, director of the ICA, says:
‘I first came across Rachel’s work a little before she opened her exhibition at the Chisenhale Gallery. I was drawn to her use of colour, lines and the surprising visceral effect her paintings had on me. I was even more pleasantly surprised to see her interdisciplinary commission “Hey Maudie” recently at St James’ Church. At such a young age, she masterfully managed to combine poetry, music and fashion within a visual arts context and with a sense of collaboration at the centre of her work. I find Rachel bold, super exciting and cannot wait to see what she will do next.’
This interview is part of Time Out’s The Future of London Art series. Read more here.