Kevin H. Jones: solo exhibition in Tokyo

Digital Arts Professor Kevin H. Jones’ solo exhibition titled Strange Weather opened on July 30th at Art Lab Tokyo. 

Kevin H. Jones’ latest exhibition, Strange Weather, presents us with two new exciting bodies of work. This showing is an investigation consisting of collage, decollage, and digital montage. Jones incorporates charts, diagrams, and images from popular culture as tools of comprehension of the natural world. Building upon his past compositions, these structured forms and ordered systems provide a sense of clarity and control over the complexity of nature. However in this new exhibition, he challenges the perceived authority of these visual systems. Through the layering of charts and diagrams, Kevin disrupts their logical order, infusing them with ambiguity and suggesting alternative narratives. In doing so, he invites viewers to question the limitations of our understanding and to embrace the inherent mystery and beauty that lies beyond our comprehension. 

The physical and digital layering of Kevin Jones’ artwork becomes a metaphorical act, mirroring the intricacies and multiplicity of meaning found in our world. These layers embody the interplay between perception and interpretation, as they move in and out of coherence, shifting between meaning and nonsense. This fluidity echoes the dynamic nature of our existence, where meanings are not fixed but rather subject to the flux of individual experiences and cultural contexts. 

Ultimately, Kevin seeks to engage viewers in a contemplative journey. Through the amalgamation of digital processes, collage, popular culture, childhood memories, and the enigma of charts and diagrams, he strives to evoke emotion, ignite curiosity, and spark conversation. Kevin invites viewers to explore the shifting layers of meaning, to challenge the assumptions that underpin our understanding, and to embrace the beauty of ambiguity and the vastness of possibility.

#decollage #collage #ケビンhジョーンズ

Kevin H. Jones solo exhibition in Tokyo, Japan

"Absurd Thinking" a solo exhibition of new work by digital arts professor Kevin H. Jones, was on view June and July at Art Lab Akiba in Tokyo, Japan.

Kevin H. Jones' new body of work presents the viewer with a constellation of images from popular culture, and digital processes, to iconic childhood memories. In his latest exhibition, Absurd Thinking, Jones creates visually and physically layered digital prints that conceptually oscillate between meaning and nonsense. Building upon his past inquiry into our attempts to understand the natural world, the construct of charts and diagrams also traverses this new work. What is different is that Jones reveals his process by using calibration graphics related to the process of printing and by showing computer operating system floating menus.

The result of these choreographed juxtapositions seen in his digital prints and videos feels like one is flipping through channels on a TV or moving past the static of a radio dial as images coalesce and momentarily make sense.

For example in the work, Mixed Metaphor, a portrait of Frankenstein sits in a computer's operating system’s popup window surrounded by color and grayscale gradients. The portrait has been pierced with holes revealing the star chart layered underneath. A pixelated bird is perched to the left of Frankenstein. Amongst the organization of seemingly abstract ideas, one may wonder about the relationship of the bird with the monster.

Kevin Jones: Work from 2012-2018

Work from 2012-2018  by Kevin H. Jones, Associate Professor and Chair of the Newcomb Art Department, will be on view at the Anderson, Virginia Commonwealth University's art gallery, from October 9 through November 3, 2018.

Over the past six years within Jones’ work, one can see transitions in and synthesis of media including painting, video, physical computing, and more recently, 2-dimensional digital prints. Through this synthesis of media, the conceptual investigation of the natural world through charts, diagrams and systems is a constant theme. His early work used solar energy to power a fictional television station, while more recent work uses sensors to create an interactive video installation that questions entropy. 

This exhibition is presented as part of the Anderson’s 2018–2019 Alumni Open Call. 

 

Kevin H. Jones: Stellar Rays

Kevin H. Jones had a solo show, Stellar Rays, at Art Lab Akiba in Tokyo, Japan during the month of August 2018. The exhibition presented new work examining the fleeting and unattainable by investigating astronomy, high speed photography, and chemistry. By moving from the micro with chemistry to the macro with astronomy, ephemeral moments are captured in various forms. The work Self-Reflexive (shown left) is a high-speed camera that has been altered to give the illusion that it is melting. By representing the apparatus’ state of being as what can only be seen in slow motion, the sculpture captures what is elusive and unattainable.  Two works in the exhibition use star maps to elicit this mysterious nature. Within the work, Gravitational Field, a star chart is recreated on a tire innertube evoking a blackhole and astrophysics. While the sculpture, Hyperhat, presents the viewer with a silver-plated top hat that has been severed by an intersection of the vast universe as an LCD screen that shows a star map in motion. Both of these works bring the night sky to a more human level, manifested in a more tangible format. Other works examine graphics related to chemistry and popular culture by bringing clusters of images together that elude meaning.

Kevin Jones: The New Pollution

Kevin Jones, Associate Professor and Chair of the Newcomb Art Department, has a solo exhibition at Rudoph Blume Fine Art / ArtScan Gallery in Houston.

Kevin Jones’ work challenges the blind faith in all things scientific as the predominant, contemporary credo. He is baffled by the seeming inability of scientific inquiry to explain the innermost workings of nature. Richard Feynman famously said  “If you thought that science was certain – well, that is just an error on your part”, so Kevin Jones is ready to help out by suggesting alternative systems.

This exhibition is the second solo show for Jones at ArtScan; the first one titled “Chemtrail” took place in 2012. Jones has exhibited internationally, most recently at the Berlin Science Week and spends time in summer at Akiba Art Lab in Tokyo. His mostly digital based work is done in a variety of media including painting, sculpture, time-based media, or digital prints.  

Show duration: February 24 - March 31, 2018 | 1836 Richmond Avenue | Houston, TX 77098

Kevin H. Jones: Protecting Things That Are Doubted

Kevin H. Jones is included in the exhibition Appealing to the Populous at Humboldt Universität in Berlin, Germany. The exhibition opened Nov 1st and coincides with Berlin Science Week .  Appealing to the Populous brings together over twenty international artists exploring various issues related to evolutionary biology.

Kevin’s work "Protecting Things That Are Doubted" includes three sensors that monitor and guard a copy of Charles Darwin’s, On the Origin of Species. Such care to monitor and preserve what is considered one of the most important scientific books ever published must be taken, especially in a divided world of evolutionary doubt, ignorance, and controversy. Exhibition visitors will observe real time measurements of the forces exerted within the book’s environment.

http://www.berlinscienceweek.com/programme/artscience-exhibition-on-evolutionary-biology-appealing-to-the-populous

Faculty News: Kevin H. Jones at CICA in Korea

Associate Professor Kevin H. Jones will be participating in two group exhibitions: Objectified and The 3rd International Exhibition of New Media Art at the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA) in Korea.  

Objectified will be on view from March 10 - 26, 2017.  These works investigate objectification, pop culture, and consumerism.

The 3rd International Exhibition of New Media Art will be on display from May 12 – June 18, 2017. New media work in the exhibition will include: Video Interactive Art, Game Art, Web Art, Mobile App Art, Social Media Art, Data Visualization, 3D Printing and Performance. A catalog of the exhibition tiled “New Media Art 2018” will be released in the United States and Korea in December 2017.

Digital Humanities and Media

by Nathan Halverson | Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of English and Newcomb Department of Art
I work in digital media to study the personal and cultural associations that shape our perceptions of media and technology, and the assumptions about referentiality, artificiality, and authenticity we impose on them. Much of my recent work relates to political and physical environments, the digital representation of places, and their convergence in contemporary life.

Students in Digital Art I and II use a variety of software to create digital projects while also researching and discussing issues and concepts in contemporary art. Students in the 3000-level English Special Topics course in Digital Humanities are introduced to concepts in digital media history and production. They research and produce multimedia works beginning with combining sound and images with text.

In 2016 some of these students participated in the Confluences Expanded Media Symposium at Southern Illinois University where their work was exhibited alongside student work from other schools including The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, The College of New Jersey, and SIU-Carbondale. The semester’s work included taking part in a multi-campus conversation to develop a thematic focus for the symposium and contributing research and content about New Orleans in the form of writing, images, sound recordings, and digital maps. The work was exhibited as part of a multi-media digital art exhibit on the Southern Illinois University campus. Some of this work can be see on the Confluences Expanded Media website which students also helped to create.

Kevin Jones' solo exhibition in Tokyo

Kevin H. Jones, Associate Professor of Digital Arts and Associate Chair of the Newcomb Art Department had his second solo exhibition in Tokyo, Japan at Art Lab Akiba during the month of August.  His exhibition titled Sleight Of Hand included custom electronic and interactive artworks that examined the instability of systems related to science, magic and chance.

Wiley Aker exhibits in New York, Greece, and South Korea

Wiley Aker, MFA candidate in Digital Arts, has three exhibitions opening in September. Aker’s work in video, sound, and new media explores the psychological landscapes that mediate reality in the post-internet world. The Governor's Island Art Fair in New York, New York (shown at left)  will be open every weekend in September. The RETHink Art Festival in Rethymno, Greece, the first digital art festival realized in Crete, will run from September 9th-12th. The exhibit "Artist and Location" at the CICA Museum in Gimpo, South Korea will be on view from September 23rd-October 9th. This exhibition explores the concepts of location, diaspora, and globalization. Aker's work can also be viewed at: vimeo.com/wileyaker.

Kevin H. Jones at CAM Raleigh

Kevin H. Jones, Broadcasting to Unknown Points  #2, 2016, paint and electronics, 6' x 9'
Photo by Aaron Zalonis, courtesy Kevin H. Jones

Kevin H. Jones, Associate Professor of Digital Arts, is participating in the group exhibition super-vision at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, North Carolina opening on Thursday, January 28, 2016.

Artist Lecture: Anthony Baab

Anthony Baab will present an artist lecture on Tuesday April 21 at 5:30 pm in Stone Auditorium, room 210 Woldenberg Art Center.

Jane Cassidy (MFA 2014) exhibition at the Work Gallery, Ann Arbor

Jane Cassidy:
Fits of Easy Reflexion
March 14–April 5 | Work Gallery | 306 S. State St.

An exhibition of three visual music installations by Jane Cassidy is on view at the Work Gallery in association with the Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Square Ball and Purple Tinged Pearl Buttoned Bangled-Billy are works for stereo sound, video projector, and fog machine; They Upped Their Game After The Oranges employs stereo sound and projection mapping onto a corner.

Originally from from Galway, Ireland, Jane Cassidy studied music composition and animation, earning her Masters in Music and Media Technologies from Trinity College Dublin in 2008 and and an MFA in Digital Art from Tulane University. Her work explores visual music, live visuals, electro-acoustic composition and multi-channel video.