Rachel Jones (b.1991, London, UK) works in paint, performance, sound and installation to explore a sense of self as a visual, visceral experience. Her paintings are a site of tension through their kaleidoscopic palette, boldness of competing forms and interplay of textures. The figure is notably abstracted in her works, as Jones is interested in ‘using motifs and colour as a way to communicate ideas about the interiority of black bodies and lived experience’ (Jones, in conversation with Tate curator Nathan Ladd, March 2021). Her expressive use of colour becomes a way of provoking or communicating with viewers, who bring their own lived experiences and cultural backgrounds to the interpretation of her works. This sense of community and shared history comes to the fore in her installations and performances, in which imagery, sound and music coalesce in a celebration of Black culture.
Recent solo exhibitions include: Hey, Maudie, St James’s Piccadilly, London, UK (2023); Red, Forged, Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria (2023); a shorn root, Long Museum, Shanghai, China (2023); say cheeeeese, Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK (2022); SMIIIILLLLEEEE, Thaddeus Ropac Gallery, London (2021); A Sovereign Mouth, 12.26, Dallas, TX, USA (2020); Red Shaped Mouths, The Chinati Foundation, Marfa, TX, USA (2019). Her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield, Wakefield (2023); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2023); Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. (2022); Hayward Gallery, London (2021) and Royal Academy of Arts, London (2018), among others. Her work can be found in prominent institutional collections, including those of the Long Museum, Shanghai; Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam; Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland; Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; and Tate, London. She lives and works in London, UK.