Gated Canyons – Rachel Jones

Gated Canyons by Rachel Jones is her first major solo show, exploring emotion, identity, and symbolism through vibrant, abstract, and figurative paintings. At Dulwich Picture Gallery to Oct 19. Visit: https://www.dulwichpicturegallery.org.uk/whats-on/rachel-jones-gated-canyons/

Known for bold colours, layered mark-making, and recurring motifs like mouths, Jones explores emotion through abstraction and figuration. The exhibition features 14 new and recent works, alongside Head of a Hound by Pieter Boel, which inspired the new series. Jones introduces bricks as a symbol of public and private space. Using oil stick and pastel on linen, she blends unsettling colours with exposed canvas. Her palette softens, while themes of identity, self, and emotion remain central.

Rachel Jones said: “The repetition of a mouth filled with teeth is how I play with, subdue, elevate or put meaning and content into ideas around representations of self and Blackness. It’s both specific and very general. Using a work from the Collection as a prompt for these works has significantly deepened my relationship to the history of images, their context and the narratives created around them.”

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