ONLINE EXHIBITION I Jacqueline de Jong, Catastrophes

2 Nov-12 Nov 2020

Overview

In lieu of FIAC 2020, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery is delighted to present Catastrophes, an online presentation of paintings and drawings by Jacqueline de Jong.

Marking the artist’s return to oil painting after a number of years, Catastrophes highlights Border Line (2020), a body of work addressing the traumatic experiences of migrants across the globe and critiquing the callous indifference shown to those fleeing war. Exacerbated by the pandemic and hostile politics, the immigration crisis has been thrown into sharp relief this year.

The paintings from Border Line are presented alongside two earlier series that respond to major global conflict, tracing de Jong’s treatment of war and the brutality of human nature as recurring themes throughout her career. On show are works on paper from WAR 1914-1918 (2013-14), which correlate the use of chlorine gas in two conflicts a century apart – the First World War and the Syrian Civil War – and Megaliths (1991) a response to media coverage of the First Gulf War.

In bringing together these three bodies of work, Catastrophes underlines contemporary tragedy, viewing the present moment as part of the cyclical nature of history and human behaviour.