Artist : Jonathan Michael Ray
Title : Pulvis et Umbra Sumas (We Are But Dust and Shadow)
Medium : found glass bottles, fossil, coin, thimble, stereoscopic image, slate, glass, steel
Dimensions : 35 x 20 x 45 cm


ENQUIRE ABOUT THIS WORK

Jonathan Michael Ray’s ‘mono no aware’ artworks examine the multilayered histories, fictions and beliefs assigned to artefacts, materials and the places he encounters. A practice comprising of stained glass, photography, sculpture, print, drawing, video and installation, much of his work is deeply connected to his surroundings. He regularly uses found objects and images imbued with their own histories, as well as material direct from the landscape, appropriating their symbolism while creating a new context and meaning. By layering and combining material, he is interested in looking beyond the surface of a purely physical existence and breaking down the institutions by which we are taught to see and experience the world. His work alludes to the sublime power that inanimate material and objects can contain when we give them space, time and authority to do so.

Jonathan Michael Ray was born in High Wycombe, UK and has been based in West Cornwall since 2018. He studied at Nottingham Trent in 2007 and at Slade School of Fine Art in 2016. Earlier this year Ray was selected to take part in Masterclass at Zabludowicz Collection, London, he and Verity Birt organised “Gathering” a group exhibition at Grays Wharf, Penryn, and has been shortlisted for the National Sculpture Prize which is currently on show at Broomhill Estate in Devon. His work was subject of a two person presentation with Willeminha Barnes Graham at Tate St Ives in 2022.