artists and demonstrators Chris Jones

Biography

Chris Jones was born in Poole, Dorset, and studied art from a young age, before specialising in Natural History Illustration at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. Wildlife has always been the only subject that really inspires me and it is in search of such inspiration that he has travelled to countries such as Borneo, India and Africa.

Since making a transition from acrylics to oils a couple of years ago, his interests within wildlife art have shifted. With the increased subtlety and versatility that comes with the medium, he has become increasingly fascinated with straightforward animal and bird portraiture - his aim being to compensate for any lack of compositional interest with extremely accurate realism, to an extent that might enable a viewer to identify the individual creature portrayed rather than simply its species. Also, he is fascinated by the challenge of integrating realistic wildlife painting with more contemporary design elements normally associated with abstract and modern art. For this reason, much of his recent work involves float mounting, 'breaking out' of the edges of paintings and introducing compartments and blocks to the composition.

In 1998 he was named International Young Artist of the Year by the Society of All Artists (SAA), and was one of only six award-winners when exhibiting for the first time at the National Exhibition of Wildlife Art in Liverpool. He also exhibits with the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) at the Mall Galleries in London and has sold work at auction with Christies and Sothebys.

He often works to commission, and produced a body of work for the late eminent zoologist, John Aspinall. Commissions included a dramatic 7 x 4ft painting of Javan langur monkeys warning off a reticulated python. Much of the work is on permanent exhibition at Mr.Aspinall's Port Lympne mansion in Kent. A painting of three fennec foxes was also accepted for display last year at the Nature in Art foundation in Gloucester - a museum dedicated to wildlife art, which strictly selects pieces for display by jury.

Chris currently illustrates for Birdwatching Magazine's 'Collectors Guide to British Birds' and is working on a series of paintings based on a recent trip to India for a major exhibition in 2003 at Slimbridge Bird Reserve. He has been a Committee member of the Marwell Art Society since its inception and is currently editor of the society's newsletter. Upcoming events this year include the annual exhibition at Marwell Zoo and an exhibition of British wildlife paintings with Jon Pointer at Arundel bird reserve.

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