Patrick H Jones: Target

What kind of horserace is this? There are flashes of numbered saddle cloths and riding silks, but no bridles or stirrups, no saddles, no jockeys. Multiple canvases are brought together, and the joins where they meet become divisions in space, like finishing lines, but always just out of reach. With their muzzles straining toward incongruous Pop Art targets, these horses are frozen in time, forever running the final furlong on a home stretch that never ends.

Last week, over the phone, Patrick described making the large paintings at the centre of this exhibition: First, the images were painted in a muted palette of lights and darks, typical of his recent paintings, then saturated colours were added on top. The plan was to go over them later with darker paint, not to cover the colour completely, but to tone it down so that only a suggestion would remain.

However, shortly after adding those bright colours, Patrick learned that he and his partner will soon become parents for the first time. That happy news brought with it a sense of clarity and optimism about life in general. Back in the studio he found he no longer wanted to subdue the bold colours, instead continuing the paintings with those colours uncovered and in full force, as you see them now.

Possibly it was a coincidence that his embrace of bright colours followed the news of a pregnancy. In any case, that was the order of events. 

This reminded me of the last time I wrote about Patrick’s work, for an exhibition of paintings that were much darker than these. I said that Patrick’s paintings had shed their colour after the loss of his father. One life had ended and with it a shadow had fallen across the paintings. Now a new life is beginning, and the colour has returned. It seems an awfully tidy narrative, but there it is. 

So, these new paintings are colourful, but they are other things too. They’re moving at breakneck speed, noisy with the sound of thundering hooves, smelling of horses and freshly trampled grass. At the same time, being paintings, they are silent and motionless, with no scent at all. From across the room, they are pictures of a horserace; although viewed close, their surfaces are more like the churned-up mud of yesterday’s track. 

As work on the paintings continued, Patrick saw Luca Brown’s photographs of The Garrison, and invited Brown to include them as part of the show. The Garrison is an area of buildings centred around a large horse racing track in Barbados. Located in a former colonial outpost, it is now a thriving endeavour run like clockwork by dedicated locals. The imagery of horse racing unites Luca’s photographs with Patrick’s paintings, but the emotions each artist brings to this subject are strikingly different. For Luca, visiting the Garrison was a journey of self discovery. Seeing himself in the mirror of the people of this community, he discovered a greater sense of self and belonging – a profound moment he felt compelled to document. For Patrick, by contrast, the horserace is emblematic of herding and rivalry, and a metaphor for the pressured camaraderie and fierce competition of many human arena. 

With all that in mind, it might be fair to say these are the most colourful optimistic paintings that Patrick has made in years, and nevertheless they’re as dark as ever.