Yul Brynner (Diptych)

Yul Brynner (Diptych)Jon Joness new collection, In My Life, is centred on the artist going back to basics and his roots, painting people that have a special place in his heart. Often depicting celebrities or the Peaky Blinders gang, his haunting portraits are perfect for both traditional and contemporary spaces. Perplexing, and melancholic, Jon's work is created from the heart, and whilst striving to capture expressions, moods and feelings as a portrait painter, Jon loves

Jon Jones’s new collection, In My Life, is centred on the artist going back to basics and his roots, painting people that have a special place in his heart. Often depicting celebrities or the Peaky Blinders gang, his haunting portraits are perfect for both traditional and contemporary spaces.

Perplexing, and melancholic, Jon's work is created from the heart, and whilst striving to capture expressions, moods and feelings as a portrait painter, Jon loves the juxtaposition between the portraits with the “animated” portrait, bring a new humour element to the piece. All the individual portraits are from people who have interested or inspired the artist in this case Yul Brynner. The Russian actor was most famous for stage musical “The King and I” – which Jon remembers vividly “I cried when he died in the ‘king and I’ as a child and my fascination has continued all my life.”

Using conflicting tones of cream white, black and grey to create a highly atmospheric figurative artwork with an essence of realism capturing a monochrome scene. The deep swathes of black paint are skilfully blended and contrasted with white accents to create detailed and moving masterpieces. Working in an expressionist style, Jon creates representational artworks using mark making, a technique the artist has mastered throughout his career “The instant grab of attention and the ability to convey emotions so simplistically is not lost on me. Nevertheless, I want my work to be more than just a quick line drawing. These are personal paintings which if anything, I paint to make me smile, all the people portrayed have inspired, provoked, and interested me throughout my life.”

Jones’s work is a culmination of influences from Lichtenstein, whose work was influenced by popular advertising and the comic book style of the early 1960s; Basquiat, with his raw gestural style of painting with graffiti-like images and scrawled text; Rembrandt, a personal hero of Jon’s, considered one of the greatest storytellers in art and unusually gifted in capturing moods and Joshua Reynolds the leading portrait painter of the 18th Century. These influences contributed to Jon Jones personal portrait style he’s known for. Bespoke framed and mounted in textured black radiata pine, this original painting will add a dark and sultry touch to any space.

Find out more about Jon Jones artistry here or alternatively shop all his art here.