Otis Jones – Marie Hazard – Duo Show at #Sølvgade19 – 2021
EXHIBITION | SINGLE
Otis Jones
Otis Jones’ works contain an ineffable quality allowing the viewer to focus on their essence. His abstract, circular wall pieces are provocative and engaging without leading the viewer by the hand. Jones liberates his audience by leaving them to consider the formal elements of color, scale and composition to achieve a personal and emotional response, shying away from attaching too much meaning to his work himself.
And while the viewer may initially respond to the physicality of his work, Jones also conveys a deep sense of spirituality within each painted surface.The physicality of the work is paramount for Jones. Works that at first glance may seem spare are, in fact, intensely physical. Jones uses part instinct and part experience as he works and reworks his surfaces, continually adding and subtracting.
Although Jones’ palette seems to be consistently monochromatic, further investigation reveals that each work is composed of various colors integrated, manipulated and worked to the point that the overall coloration is created by the visual tension of colors applied within the under painting.
Marie Hazard
“On my old wooden loom, I weave miles of coiled threads that are released and mingle according to a well-established and thoughtful framework. Weaving is the art of miscegenation. I juxtapose photos, paintings on paper, materials, colors, folds and folds. It is a dance with the craft, a ritual and slow dance with the arms and the whole body that repeats endlessly the ancestral gesture of the craftsman, which requires physical commitment and self-sacrifice. All this should not be interrupted, I would lose my own drawing as the thread of my story.”
I weave the invisible threads of an intimate story that does not know how to say otherwise. Trained in textile handicraft training in London – Central Saint Martins – I acquired the weaving skills that taught me a job, a safety in doing it, but also the daring of incorporate more contemporary elements from other arts: painting, drawing, collage, sculpture and photography. I could add calligraphy, poetry, exploration is infinite.
After a long preparatory work, I choose my natural paper and linen threads, dye them, put them on the job, collect my images from everyday life, my own photos or those cut from magazines, I assemble them, paint them again or redraw them, then I print them on weaving by the process of sublimation or digital printing. It is an adventure playground where living universes are created that move and question. The stakes are there: it’s about capturing something of the energy of the world, and using the threads like the spider that weaves its web, making a mechanical work a unique piece.
