Robert C. Jones

As a painter, Northwest artist, Bob Jones lives in a spare, boiled-down world of dark, elemental shapes, vibrant and complex color, and constant experimentation, most often operating within a highly specific structure and a clear focus. He has a warm, rich palette, reminiscent of Impressionist landscape, but the large expanses of black that have long marked his drawings have also played a significant role in his paintings as well. For nearly 40 years, Jones has brought himself to think clearly and persistently about a small but universal set of issues: form and line, the way in which color behaves, how a painting most directly creates a presence. They are what forms the core of abstract painting; however, as he has pursued them, Jones has given them his own twist. His work has varied widely over the years, but it has always returned to a fascination with the geometry of composition, the nature of the lines and the interplay between drawing and painting.