Corinne Jones
Plain English
May 23rd - July 20th 2014
Tops Gallery is pleased to present Plain English, an installation of ten paintings, a video, and an artist book by Corinne Jones.
The exhibition takes its name from the book title. Plain English, 2014, letterpress edition of 50, is a morally ambiguous, allegorical tale that sets a stage where - within a status quo - there is the potential for art to occur.
The paintings are each titled Casting Out Sevens (1-16), 2013-2014, acrylic on shaped canvas, variable sizes. Each painting is a singular episode of subtle, equiluminant color on a distinctly shaped structure. The layered painting method produces a gentle shift between warm and cool tonalities that give the paintings an indeterminate quality. The surfaces waver like an in-between sonic tone or fluctuating temperature. The anatomy of each canvas is seven-sided, with each shape eluding references that could be easily categorized. At the same time, the shapes are active signifiers. The seven corners of each painting point to the periphery of the canvas. By extension, they direct attention to the exhibition space itself and to the other paintings within it. The paintings can be seen as separate accounts of a connected event.
The video, Lamar Park, Machu, 2012, made in collaboration with Liam Gillick, demonstrates a particular sense of remoteness in a public park. Its slide show format is a comparison of scale relationships. The site appears to be a life-sized model and a "stand in" for the fictional locations named in Plain English.
