Lot 80 - Peter Jones - Duckling

ARTIST INFO

About 

Peter Jones (born 1968, Birmingham, UK) studied fine art at Reading University (1988-1992) and now lives and works in Hackney Wick, London. In 1996 Peter was selected for the Whitechapel Open which marked the beginning of regular exhibitions at galleries in London and outside the UK.  
Peter held his first solo shows at FRED in London and concurrently at the sister gallery in Leipzig in 2006. The Monkey Paintings series first shown at these two exhibitions confirmed Peter's reputation as an artist and earned him an enthusiastic following. Almost all of the vintage toy subjects of these still-life paintings are collected by the artist for this purpose.  
Traditionally the monkey in art symbolised the primitive beast within us, and although the paintings by Peter Jones don't deny this inherent quality, they are by turns capricious, playful and vulnerable.  
The monkey paintings were followed by a group of lamb paintings, dog paintings and an ongoing series of various animal portraits including bunnies and birds. These particular subjects acknowledge and communicate the traditional art historical symbolism of innocence, faithfulness and love.  
After a hiatus of several years, the monkey series was renewed in 2016, and continues to be the artist's signature subject. 

Education 

University of Reading 1988-92 

Select Exhibitions/Awards 

2022, Call Me A Horse, Bark Gallery, Berlin 
2021, A Generous Space, Hastings Contemporary 
2021, Drawing Biennial, The Drawing Room, London 
2020, Hastings Open, Hastings Museum and Art Gallery 
2019, ING Discerning Eye, London 
2019, Still-Here, Newington Gallery, London 
2019, Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London 
2019, Darlings of the Underground, Subsidiary Projects, London 
2019 Drawing Biennial, The Drawing Room, London 
2018 Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London 
2017 Make_Shift, Collyer Bristow Gallery, London 
2017 Nature Morte, Guildhall Art Gallery, London 
(Previously at Four Domes Pavillion, Wroclaw, Poland; 
Konsthallen-Bohuslans Museum, Sweden; 
Ha Gamle, Prestegard, Norway.) 
2017 Drawing Biennial, The Drawing Room, London 
2016 Models and Materialities, Bay Arts, Cardiff 
2016 The Small Things Matter, solo show, Clifford Chance Pride Exhibition, London 
2015 Drawing Biennial, The Drawing Room, London 
2014 Picaresque, Ha Gamle Prestegard, Norway 

Gallery Representation 

Alveston Fine Arts, Oxmarket Contemporary 

Statement about AOAP Submitted Artwork   

The Winter Auction Duckling is modelled on a very small soft toy which I found in St Leonards-on-Sea on Tuesday 19th July, the day when summer temperature records were smashed across the UK. A few days later when I was back in the sweltering hot studio, I decided that this new addition to my collection of lost and orphaned toys would be the subject for my postcard contribution for this year's Winter Auction. Looking ahead to when the auction would be held, I imagined the Duckling in a cool wintery setting and posed him like a Snowman, as sweat dripped off me as I struggled to finish the tiny painting in the stifling heat of my small studio in Hackney Wick.