The phantom and the city

The Metropolitan phantom series of drawings, prints and sculptures arose from exposure to Oceanic art while Welsh-born artist Tim Jones was working the United States during 1988–90.

The figure of the phantom is based on an 1800s New Guinean sculpture, held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, which was originally an elaborate house-post for an above-water dwelling in Sentani Lake, West Papua.

At this time Jones was inspired by Joseph Campbell‘s influential book and television series, The Power of Myth which proposed the theory of global mythology; that universal truths are revealed by the reappearance of themes across the mythologies of disparate cultures.

Ideas that the land‘s eternal energy could manifest itself across cultures resonated with Jones when he saw the elaborately carved New Guinean designs, and their uncanny similarity to Celtic iconography. In Jones‘s mind, the potent character of the phantom emerged.

Celtic beliefs about the power and mystery of the land have long interested Jones, who has repeatedly explored the spirit of place in his work. The gnarled woods and unpeopled landscapes of the Welsh countryside of his youth have been frequent subjects of his wood engravings.

Several pieces from the Metropolitan phantom series are on display in this exhibition with two Papua New Guinean shields drawn from the Leonhard Adam Collection of International Indigenous Culture.

“Stylistic similarities such as the circular motifs and replication of linear marks are recognisable when comparing these shields with works from Jones‘s Metropolitan phantom series” says curator Joanna Bosse.

“Further, the presence of the two shields invites viewers to re-enact Jones‘s encounter with the visual power of art from this region.”

Works from this little known series in the University of Melbourne Art Collection are shown together for the first time with three related sculptures from the artist‘s collection.

Additional Papua New Guinean and Melanesia – artworks will feature in a forthcoming exhibition drawn from the Leonhard Adam Collection of International Indigenous Culture, which will open at The Potter early next year.

The second half of the exhibition comprises Jones‘s major sculpture ’Covert 7 city’ constructed during his 1989 artist residency at the University of Melbourne and ‘Angel’ drawings from the University‘s collection, along with the 1990 sculpture ‘Good afternoon at Levitating Phenomenon’ from the artist‘s collection.

Melbourne‘s expanding CBD landscape of the late 1980s and other iconic architectures are brought together in the major sculpture ‘Covert 7 city’ Manhattan‘s bustling urbanity, the medieval town of San Gimignano, Gotham City‘s chaotic opacity in 1989 Batman film and the labyrinth of buttresses, turrets and towers of Mervyn Peake‘s 1946 fictional castle Gormenghast were all influential.

Tim Jones: the phantom and the city runs from 25 September 2010 to 28 November 2010