Nicholas Jones is a Melbourne based sculptor who uses books and printed paper to make works which question the manner in which books are 'read'.
Books are capsules; vessels designed to hold information, borne of investigation or of personal expression. These objects are often venerated, held aloft as are amulets, as the source of reasoned knowledge, the fecund field awaiting the harvest. Sequestered away in dusty libraries, spines anticipating the eye of the beholder, these books tactility remains at arms length.
The physical act of folding, tearing and sewing book leaves, may be considered iconoclastic (extinguishing the fire of reason, perhaps). Although sometimes iconised for their content or historical importance, more often than not, books are discarded as cultural detritus. These transformed books aim to highlight the poetic nature of the book as form. As historical phenomena, books have reflected the evolution of mankind, and although beseiged by new technologies, the book remains steadfastly both the solver of the riddle and the creator of the labyrinth.
Nicholas Jones has a Bachelor of Fine Art (VCA), Master of Art (RMIT) and Grad Dip Ed (Melbourne University).
Nick Jones“ Through the act of stacking, folding, cutting, tearing, sewing the books, which I use, transmute, to produce objects or installations that throw new light on the book as an everyday commodity. These seemingly iconoclastic acts are employed to accentuate the beauty and tactility of the pages... From trees to wood pulp, to paper, to books; then through the process of metamorphosis to the array of different manifestations which are my works. And then of course to dust; completing the cycle.
The obsessive object making which I continue to explore harkens to crafts such as knitting and crochet. The meditative nature of the fabrication of these objects leads them into the arena of the automatic or unconscious: the repetition of the fold or of the tear leads to a fetishistic reading.”
“ As the inaugural open bench artists, Nicholas Jones set up surgery and spent four weeks dissecting unwanted, but elegant books. During this period, he carved, folded and tore dozens of books into small sculptures. Visitors were greeted with the sad scene of a floor filled with books awaiting his scalpel. Some visitors managed to rescue some they deemed worthy by exchanging them for others that seemed less precious. ”
Michel de Montaigne“ "I have gathered a posy of other men's flowers and only the thread that binds them together is my own" ”
"Nicholas Jones has been described as a 'book artist, book dissector and book carver'. Based in Melbourne, Jones collects discarded books that no longer have a home. Folding, refolding, tearing, cutting and sewing their pages, he carefully and quite deliberately dissects the, creating delicate and exquisite sculptural installations. Constantly inspired by the material he works with, Jones is intrigued by the history these books tell, "as if they are explaining their lives as I slice into them". Intrigued by their history and inspired by the idea of difference, his work is as much about process as it is about the form-"these books were conceived, born, loved, stored, discarded, found anew, studied, cut, folded and reborn".