Royal Academician Allen Jones played a part in the emergence of the Pop Art Movement as one of a cohort of artists studying at the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s, but he is perhaps best known for his erotic ‘furniture’ sculptures created in 1969, that questioned our perception of what sculpture might be.
Royal Academician Allen Jones played a part in the emergence of the Pop Art Movement as one of a cohort of artists studying at the Royal College of Art in the early 1960s, but he is perhaps best known for his erotic ‘furniture’ sculptures created in 1969, that questioned our perception of what sculpture might be.
Since then, Jones has relentlessly pursued, in his words, ‘the renewal of the tradition of the representation of the figure’ through paintings and prints using saturated colour celebrating the female form and duality of human nature. A lover of theatre and dance, Jones’ figures are often seen in performance scenarios on the stage; the frisson between a magician and his assistant is also a recurring theme. Drama infuses his imagery; areas of explosive expression are often combined with figurative representation as in this painting. Another Jones hallmark, also seen here, is the amalgamation of the male and female form, the unified bodies simultaneously suggesting ambiguity and harmony.
Jones taught extensively in his early career both in Europe and United States. His work has been shown all over the world and is held in many notable collections both at home and abroad. The RA presented a much-celebrated retrospective of his work in 2014 and a catalogue of his prints from 1996 – 2020 was published in 2020. He lives and works in London.