Jonathan Parsons

Zed's Dead

For Parsons the world we live in is a series of such signs acting in a similar way in which an animal footprint is followed by the hunter. As a species we are adept at interpreting a multitude of significations embedded in our environment. Colours themselves are signs, the naming of day and night, pigments of the earth, the sky and sea, and the ability to discriminate between various fruits and flowers. Parsons paintings and drawings are based on photographs of images he chooses to recreate from bits and pieces of our world. It becomes clear that they are anything but abstract. Our role is hence one of interpretation, the way in which we read the series of signs and answer the questions arising from them.

For this exhibition work has been selected that highlights several aspects of Parsons practice and the links between them. The new sculpture All is Vanity is based on the 7 by 5 dot matrix display format, it is equally a play of material understanding and interpretation of words, as well as being literally a ‘sign’ appearing like an advertising hoarding.