New Pictures 8: Sarah Jones

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Minneapolis, MN, April 11, 2013—The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) is the first American art museum to feature a solo exhibition of works by British photographer Sarah Jones, opening April 18 in the museum’s Linda and Lawrence Perlman Gallery (368). The exhibition, part of the museum’s contemporary photography series, “New Pictures,” comprises nine large-scale color photographs created from 2007 to 2012, featuring subjects ranging from roses to horses, drawing studios, life models and psychoanalysts’ consulting rooms.

Four additional works by Jones will also be on view in the MIA’s Fountain Court as part of the museum’s Art ReMix series that situates contemporary art in dialogue with the museum’s historic collection.

Jones gained notoriety for photographing psychoanalysts’ therapy rooms in the late 1990s and has continued to explore this provocative subject. In Analyst (Couch) (I), 2008, she shows the therapist’s viewpoint: a banal-looking couch covered with a red blanket bears the imprint of the patient who lay upon it during a session. Arrangement (Analyst) (I), 2007, focuses on the objects that have been carefully arranged by the analyst to create a soothing environment for the patient.

Two large-scale diptychs—one showing a horse and the other a rose bush—refer to early stereographic prints and explore the potential for photography to reveal uncanny perspectives. In The Rose Gardens (display: III / white) (II) and (III), of 2008, Jones photographed a rose bush from both front and back so viewers can contemplate both viewpoints simultaneously. In Horse (profile / black) (II) and (III), of 2012, she paired two images of a horse, whose majestic presence is compressed through the process of doubling.

Jones earned her master of fine arts degree at Goldsmith College in London and has been exhibiting internationally for over twenty years. She is represented by Maureen Paley, London, and Anton Kern Gallery, New York, and is also a tutor at The Royal College of Art in London. A new monograph published by Violette Editions, with contributions by David Campany, Brian Dillon, and A. M. Homes, will be available in bookshops in September.

The artist will discuss the formal and psychological dimensions of her photography at the Fifth Annual Arnold Newman Lecture on Contemporary Photography on Thursday, September 26, from 7 to 8 p.m. $10; $5 for MIA members. To register, call (612) 870-6323, or online at artsmia.org.

Generous support for New Pictures is provided by the W. Duncan and Nivin MacMillan Foundation.

About the Minneapolis Instiute of Arts
The Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA), home to one of the finest encyclopedic art collections in the country, houses more than 80,000 works of art representing 5,000 years of world history. Highlights of the permanent collection include European masterworks by Rembrandt, Poussin, and van Gogh; modern and contemporary painting and sculpture by Picasso, Matisse, Mondrian, Stella, and Close; as well as internationally significant collections of prints and drawings, decorative arts, Modernist design, photographs, textiles, and Asian, African, and Native American art. General admission is always free. Some special exhibitions have a nominal admission fee. Museum hours: Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Monday closed. For more information, call (612) 870-3131, or visit artsmia.org.