alvey
jones

vermeer studies:
the art of painting

Woman with a Pearl Necklace
diptych
left: oil on canvas, mounted on board
right: oil on linen
each 14"h x 12"w
by Alvey Jones

September 7 - October 17, 2010

Opening Reception:

Friday, September 10, 7-10 pm

Also showing are the following visiting artists:

Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez, Martha Rock Keller, Andrea Simons-Novak, Margaret Parker, Maria Ruggiero, Leslie Sobel and Lulu Zheng

A tongue-in-cheek Christmas wish from the artist's wife, Domenica, led Ann Arbor painter Alvey Jones to embark on the ambitious (some would say preposterous) project of painting exact replicas of the works of Johannes Vermeer of Delft, using as much as possible only the materials, techniques and equipment that had been available to the 17th century Dutch painter. He looked on it as a training regimen, aimed at improving his use of oil paint. While it quickly became apparent to him, he says, that his attempts to recreate a Vermeer were an abject failure, another ambition presented itself: What would it be like to create a series of Vermeer facsimiles and translate that experience into his own work? How might Vermeer use concepts, materials and tools available today to produce comparable pictures?

In Vermeer Studies: The Art of Painting Jones applies the lessons learned from a major 17th century artist to mirror images of his own. He sought, in the course of transcribing Vermeer's pictures, to immerse himself as far as he could in Vermeer's frame of mind, to inhabit the mood of his paintings. "The subjects I devised seem to me to parallel his, yet diverge in ways informed by the passage of more than three hundred years", Jones says. His own work is, he says, "but a shadow of the world created by Vermeer, updated to the present. Echoes of his light and atmosphere may penetrate here and there, and while I have a greater understanding and respect for Vermeer's accomplishment, I have a better appreciation of my shortcomings as a painter."

Woman/Girl with a Pearl Earring
diptych
left: oil on canvas, mounted on board
right: oil on linen
each 15"h x 13"w
by Alvey Jones

Lacemaker and Painter
diptych
detail of Women Working
oil on canvas and linen
each 10"h x 8"w
by Alvey Jones

Women Writing
triptych
oil on linen and canvas mounted on board
16"h x 29"w
by Alvey Jones

Women Working
triptych
oil on linen and canvas with assemblage
16"h x 29"w
by Alvey Jones

Self Portrait with Model: The Art of Painting
oil on canvas, mounted on board
16"h x 12"w
by Alvey Jones

Click here to see selected work by other artists during this exhibit>>

Click here to see selected work by other artists during this exhibit>>