Oliver Jones
Divine

Oliver Jones is known for his photorealist chalk drawings, which consider how the media advertises, manipulates and exploits imagery of flesh. For his solo exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall, Oliver has created a new large-scale multi-panel work, Divine (2016), taking the studio of the tattoo artist as its subject.

 

Emblematic of a religious altarpiece, the triptych refers to Laocoön and His Sons, an ancient marble sculpture in the Vatican regarded as an icon of human agony and suffering. Through the work, Oliver prompts questions about the psychology of extreme procedures in the attainment of physical perfection.

Oliver Jones was born in Shropshire in 1985 and works from his studio in Birmingham. In 2014 he presented ‘Love the Skin You’re In’, his first North American solo show at GUSFORD| los angeles, and was shortlisted for the Young Masters Art Prize. His work continues to be shown nationally and internationally including notable collections in Los Angeles, Frankfurt and Istanbul and was also shortlisted for the 2015 John Ruskin Prize.

Watch the video:  Artist Oliver Jones discusses the Divine installation at The New Art Gallery Walsall.