Jonathan G Skelton
‘Brush Marks Heaven and Earth’
Biography and Artist’s Statement
Jonathan G Skelton, (b.1949, Sussex, UK), is from a family of artist-craftsmen and designers that include his great uncles Eric and MacDonald Gill. His father John Skelton, the sculptor and letter cutter, taught him perspective drawing and italic handwriting at a young age. He went on to study art, craft and design at Foundation, Degree and Post-graduate levels.
Professional life as a graphic designer and typographer in publishing and marketing in London was followed by consultancy and teaching and then a move towards more craft based work. From the mid 1990’s onwards he created mixed media 2D and 3D pieces, often text based. As a founding member of Guernsey’s Arcollective (2003-2009) he exhibited in group exhibitions and had a solo exhibition ‘Conclusions on the Wall’. In 2013 he published ‘Brine and Crystalline, Guernsey and its Islands in Verse and Image’. Throughout, he has maintained his practises of drawing and calligraphy.
Jonathan’s interest in Chinese arts and culture has come via his long term practise of Tai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong which has recently progressed into teaching. He has taken a course in Mandarin and receives tuition in Chinese Calligraphy. These
Artist’s Statement.
“Landscape...not the antithesis but the ally of abstraction.” Alexandra Harris (in ‘Romantic Moderns’)
‘In 2009 my work underwent a fundamental change when I began to employ a Chinese calligraphic approach to landscape painting. This was prompted by my taking a flying lesson in a light aircraft at low height along the South Downs in Sussex. Having lived the greater part of my life close to these hills, the landscape now truly revealed its sensual dips, curves, lines and shadows. The outcome was a series of paintings shown in joint exhibition ‘Landmarks’ with John Mitchell photography in the 2013 Brighton Festival.
The exhibition here is partly an extension of ‘Landmarks’ taking one specific feature, Wolstonbury Hill, a promontory jutting into the Weald. This hill possesses a somewhat magical quality for nearby residents and visitors. The suite Wolstonbury – Wounded Queen’ (W-WQ) is so titled since over the centuries she has been abused by various earthworks. She manages, however, to maintain her dignity and her crown is a Bronze Age enclosure. The other main suite ‘High Parishes’ (HP) takes locations in this south western rural part of Guernsey with its exhilarating views of the sea. The south coast cliffs are dramatic and sinister with their various Occupation emplacements. Sparse windswept trees with their characteristic lean are set among the island’s
‘vergee’ landscape. This exhibition includes other landscapes and images made in response to my particular music interests, Baroque and Blues.’
The artist employs a variety of brushes – Chinese, haké, mop etc –using water based media on paper. All paintings are mounted, framed and unglazed. All works are for sale and a price list is available at the main desk (or online on separate file). Purchases to be made direct with the artist Jonathan G Skelton by email: jgskelton@cwgsy.net or mobile: 07781 125239.
Acknowledgements.
The Artist thanks and honours:
John Skelton MBE; Brian Ingham; Hu Ruijun; Catherine Robinson; Liu Yinmei; Lucy Skelton.
