Thursday, 6 May 2010

Ben Jones




Mixing it all up in a kaleidoscopic fusion of painting, video art and furniture design, Ben Jones has created a contemporary world of fluro-coloured paintings, morphing, trippy video pieces and, more recently, 3D furniture pieces which are physical manifestations of these digital visions. Taking his cues from the pixellated madness and searing palettes of classic arcade games like Q*Bert, Jones’s work is unashamedly handmade in feel, which gives it a real charm.

Part of the Providence-based Paper Rad collective, Jones has been honing his style for the last five years, alternating gallery-based projects with commercial animation work for the likes of Nickelodeon and MTV. Which, in this day and age of blurred boundaries and shifting media, makes perfect sense when you think about it.  Alongside people like Takeshi Murata and Assume Vivid Astro Focus, Jones eschews the slick hyper-real CGI world of  James Cameron’s Avatar and instead creates something unabashedly  nostalgic and DIY in feel, as if the ghost of Keith Haring had been let loose in an Atari video console. 



'Mush Robo' video still


Dog Bench, 2009



'Materialized' show video still


Cubes, 2009



Islands 'Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby' video still



'The New Dark Age' installation view, 2008


'The New Dark Age' detail, 2009


Dog Bench, 2009



'N.D.A.' video still


Ladders, 2009



N.D.A. 5 x 8'4", 2008



Nickelodeon 'Yo Gaba Gaba' video still


Mail Order Monsters, 2007


The New Dark Age video still


All images © Ben Jones










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