text by Guy Brett, Laura Padgett

This title presents a retrospective of the British artist Joanna Jones’ work over the past twenty years. The publication accompanied an exhibition in November 2005 at the Pharos Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia, Cyprus. Joanna Jones’ work has evolved over several decades as part of an intense emotional and intellectual process of self discovery and unveiling. With the body itself becoming the brush, the artist states that, ‘the work aspires to universality in its expression of being and presence. What prompted me the first time to this act was an overwhelming wish to enter my painting and do away with any separation between my work and myself’.

As Guy Brett’s valuable conversation with the artist reveals, there is a primordial urge to make use of the body as a vehicle for the transference of subtle impulses and a desire to share gained experience. Joanna Jones has lived in Germany for twenty years and her work has been shown in museums and art galleries throughout Germany and Europe.