Pacific Breeze II

"The image on my fan derives from the layout of a painting installation of the same name that I began in 2020, which consists of 42 small acrylic on canvas paintings arranged across a painted wall. Each 21 x 14 cm panel is a single dot matrix character made up of painterly impasto dots that have been applied in a non-expressive, detached way much like the approach to mark making used in zen calligraphy. 

The layout has been slightly adapted to the shape of the fan, but presents a similar appearance to the entire installation when it is viewed from a distance. When each of the panels are viewed in extreme close-up their legibility breaks down, hence the ‘code and image’ part of the title. 

The work is also named after the famous Hokusai print Travellers Caught in a Sudden breeze at Ejiri (c.1832) from the portfolio The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, (c. 1830-1832), which shows travellers on the Tōkaidō way in a gust of wind, which sends a hat, tree leaves and a pack of papers flying into the air. Electronic characters are like billions of tiny pictures constantly travelling all around the world on a super-fast digital breeze." Jonathan Parsons, 2021

Accolades

Jonathan Parsons (b.1970) has a diverse practice including installation, sculpture, found objects, drawing, painting and fabrication. His work embodies shared sensory experiences and the commonality of forms that arise throughout global culture, with a particular emphasis on seeing, pattern recognition and the legibility and meaning of texts, signs and visual communication systems. 

He was selected for the British Art Show 5 (2000) and was one of the youngest artists to be included in the notorious Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts (1997), which toured to Berlin and New York. He co-curated Seeing Round Corners for Turner Contemporary, Margate (2016), which attracted more than 150,000 visitors. Recent solo exhibitions include: Fossil Ocean Floor, Miltoncourt Farm, Dorking (2018), Scribbles, Diagrams + Combines, Hardwick Gallery, Cheltenham (2017) and New Paintings, New Art Projects, London (2014). Recent group exhibitions include: Go With the Flow: Swim Against the Tide Camberwell Space, London (2019), Agency, Eagle Gallery, London (2018) and Abstract Remix, New Art Projects, London (2017)