36 - Wednesday, November 14 , 1990 - North Shore News

Art that explores
the power of light

A Review: Investigations,
Meditations, Lamentations.
Photo works by Bill Jones,
1970-1990, at Presentation
House, Oct. 19-Nov. 25.

LIGHT bulb enclosed

in an ornate glass

shade is suspended by
a long thin rod fram the

centre of a high ceiling.

By Archie Graham
Arts Critic

It hangs over a thick glass lens
carefully set in a metal ring sup-
ported by a tripod which stands in
the middle of a round steel plate.
The light from the lamp passes
through the tens to make an allur-
ing circular pattern on the steel
plate. The same pattern ‘s echoed
on large, iconic, silver-printed,
gold-paper hangings that decorate
the walls.

You would nat be far off the
mark if you imagined this to be the
description of an obscure shrine to
an unknown gad.

Bill Jones uses the materials and
techniques of the photographer to
make art works that extend the
bound i.ies of photography and
ponder the limitations of ordinary
perception.

The gold-paper works referred to

above are produced by projecting
fight through a lens onto light-
sensitive paper, The aim here is to
purge the essential photographic
process of any human interter-
ence.

Jones has atempted to isolate
the phenomenon of light in order
to study its effects and consider its
significance.

The results are Orectic Object
and Sephira, two works which, in
their allusion to the metaphysics of
Jewish mysticism, may be viewed
as visual metaphors for the cre-
ative power of pure light. They are
like Kabbalistic mandalas, or oc-
cult pathways for the mind in its
search for the primordial source of
this light.

Ironically, however, most of the
works in this show are dark, both
in color and in mood.

If the artist touches the hand of
God, it is the hand of a sullen and
ambiguous deity. Jones’ photo
werks do not inspire the viewer
with the joy of the faithful or the
ecstasy of the saint, but induce the
melancholic disposition of one
who is both fascinated and mes-
merized by the dark interiors of
the mystic mind.

It is in this connection that Jones
is probably most effective, because
he skilfully uses photographic
techniques to dramatize the am-
bivalent function of the

See Art page 44

NEWS ohoto Cindy Goodman
AN EXHIBITION of work by Bill Jones at the Presentation House Gallery features a selective, his-
torical review of Jones’s photo work produced during the past two decades. The show is entitled
Investigations, Meditations.

Fellowship can
mean a lot more
than eating
out with the gang.

Y.. may have seen Eco-Heroes honored
in the EcoUpdate feature that runs every se-
cond Wednesday. You can nominate your
favorite Eco-Hero, the person who has taken
that first small, but important, step to making
a difference in the world around us.

The North Shore News thinks it’s important
to recognize the Eco-Heroes in our communi-
ty. If you know an Eco-Hero, please submit
his or her name to this newspaper and your
nominee will have a chance to win an Eco-
Hero button and a Going Green on the North
Shore coffee mug.

Submissions should be sent to Eco-Hero,
North Shore News, 1139 Lonsdale Ave., North
Vancouver, V7M 2H4. Nominations can also
be telephoned to Peggy Trendell-Whittaker,
985-2131, from Monday to “hursday.

THE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER
Pee Se

Above all else, your local church is a place of community and
fellowship. A place to meet and share more than you
can find ona night out. Isn’t it time you thought about that
part of you which thirsts for something more?

Show your spirit. Come back to church.

The Anglican Church

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