35 & Counting: Jonathan Parsons
In early February we launched ’35 & Counting’, an exhibition and online auction, marking 35 years of supporting emerging artists.
All proceeds of the online auction, launching on Thursday 16 February (5pm), will support our artist residency programme.
To showcase the 29 artworks generously donated, we have asked each of the artists to remind us about their involvement with the gallery and what a residency means to them.
Jonathan Parsons is known for the diversity of his practice, which includes installation, sculpture, found objects, drawing, painting and fabrication. He has exhibited widely and his work is represented in public collections in the UK and private collections around the world.
“I first showed at Aspex at Brougham Road in an exhibition entitled ‘A Matter of’ curated by Les Buckingham in 2001 [who had been invited back to mark the 20th anniversary]. Since 2005, I have worked as a freelance artist advisor for Aspex and my solo exhibition ‘Light’ took place at Aspex in 2008.”
What does a studio/place to work mean to you?
The core of my practice is studio work – it is essential to what I do. My installation and sculpture grows out of the drawing and painting that I make in the studio. The ideas I explore there extend out to interdisciplinary approaches, which often include site-specific installation in the landscape. The flag piece you see here is an example of this.
How have funded residencies supported your professional development, and what impact have they had on your work?
Artist residencies are an invaluable source of inspiration and motivation for an artist, as well as being a wonderful validation of their practice. Work that I have developed on residencies has had a considerable impact on the subsequent course of my artistic interests and of the projects that I have pursued in my working life.
