Matthew Jones

My work references the 19th century landscape tradition to address the plastic pollution disaster we face in the 21st century. Though I will always have a fondness for the energy of Constable’s oil sketches or the experiences Turner expressed in his romantic compositions, it is the Hudson River School that has the most direct influence on what I am painting. We may think of their paintings as quaint or picturesque, but they were made to persuade the public to slow down “The axe of civilization”. They were the activists of their day; their efforts were in a large part responsible for the creation of the National Park system we have today. Rather than make the case for greater environmental protections my work endeavors to instill in my audience a need for better stewardship. I visit the areas my forebears succeeded in protecting and draw attention to the mess we are making of them. I use encaustic because of how physically present the medium is. Through it, I am establishing how these places felt to me in both a physical and empathetic sense. I have a deep love for the environment in all of its varieties. This is why my compositions focus on the condition I find the landscape in. Litter and other forms of pollution heavily taint most of the parks and rivers I have seen. It is a blight on the land that disrupts the tranquility you experience being in nature. Highlighting these occurrences brings this tension back to the galleries for a broader audience to experience. Through this visual conflict I am asking the audience a question, “What is humanity’s relationship with the environments we set aside to preserve?”