I went to Joanna Jones' opening on 13 March at the old synagogue in Canterbury, now the recital room. The exhibition title was 'Make a friend of doubt', a title that questions the certainty of belief and acknowledges the importance of doubt and uncertainty when making work. The 3 large, tempera paintings hanging from the ceiling beams show the artist's ongoing concerns with colour – explorations of purple and orange: the colours of the robes of Catholic popes, Church of England bishops and Buddhist monks. The only other colours used in these paintings are black and white. It is as if the colours themselves ask the questions.
Incidentally, the opening had a party-like atmosphere and the music added an extra sensory experience to the whole evening: reducing the primacy of sight as a sense – you can tell I am reading Irigaray at the moment.
I haven't done much of my own work recently for the usual reasons. Too much other work. However, following a recent tutorial, I'm experimenting with drawing on white melamine as a way of exploring the everyday through materials as well as through the drawings themselves. It is actually really easy to draw on. Just by changing material I find I am working differently already.
