The Goldmark Cultural Center’s Norman Brown Gallery is proud to present “Refuge | Refuse”, an exhibition of environmentally themed, mixed media landscape paintings by Matthew Jones.
The exhibition is on display in the Brown Gallery from 28 October 2022 to 25 November 2022, with an exhibition reception on Saturday, 11/12 from 1 - 3pm during the November Art Walk at the Goldmark Cultural Center.
About the Exhibition
Painting is a way of expressing a connection to the land that was fostered in me at childhood. I grew up in an old forest in central Ohio, and though I now spend my days in urban centers I have never forgotten my roots. I want viewers to become immersed in my landscapes, but I do not just celebrate the land. Debris and discarded plastics litter my compositions. The work forms a tension in the viewer between the joy of exploring new lands and the revulsion of discovering the pollutants that are so often just off the trail.
My watercolors are created through a casting process. Beginning with a wax slab, I carve a negative of what I intend the finished project to be. That void is then filled with recycled paper pulp. When possible I try to mix paper refuse recovered from the sites I visit into the pulp; this adds a level of site specificity to the process. Once complete I have a low relief paper support to paint on, granting my watercolors a level of dimension and impasto that is on par with my encaustics.
Though I recover paper when I can for my casting process plastics are a larger concern of mine. They feature prominently in my work because only 9 percent of our plastics get recycled. The rest end up incinerated, wasting space in landfills, or in the water system where they break up into microplastic bits to poison marine life. Globally, 8 million tons of plastic enter the environment per year. Local activist groups like to challenge people to pick up 10 pieces a week. I encourage everyone to try to meet that challenge as well.
- Matthew Jones
About the Artist
Matthew Jones is an avid traveler and nature enthusiast who wants to share his adventures with the wider world through his art. His mediums of choice are watercolor and encaustic, but he uses casein and oil frequently as well. Matthew Jones received his MA in 2016 and his MFA from the University of Dallas in 2018. He is currently an Adjunct Professor for Tarrant County College - Southeast. His paintings have been exhibited nationally but notable local institutions include: Beaudry Gallery and Framing, The Irving Arts Center, The Oak Cliff Cultural Center, Umbrella Gallery, McKinney Performing Arts Center, Art 7 Gallery, Beatrice M. Haggerty Gallery, and now The Goldmark Cultural Center.