Elfyn Jones RCA makes work that is restless and full of unease. His figures often seem to be watching, waiting for something; they are tense, awkward. Faces seem to be struggling to emerge, to become complete. Or are they trying to hide, to dissolve, to escape?
He is fascinated by speed, the difficulty of conveying the power and potential of movement through a moment of stillness in a static medium. Animals and machines blur, falling bodies flail. Even his portraits writhe and flicker like candle-flames - immobile, yet never still; both illuminating and mysterious. The world he shows us is provisional, ambiguous, somehow not as dependable or as benign as we would like it to be. His work is characterised by its unflinching intelligence: a spirit of experiment and enquiry is always present. But these are not merely cold studies or exercises. Through decades, he has explored the contours of our inner lives, and our attempts to understand ourselves.
"My preference is oil-painting. I enjoy the process, believing process to be more important than the result - to discover by doing rather than aiming for a pre-conceived result. I work according to my interest at the time and have adopted an approach which can develop along figurative or non-figurative routes."
Elfyn Jones
Elfyn was born in Wrexham and studied Fine Art there and in Cardiff.
He has had successful exhibitions with us in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018 & 2020. He is a regular contributor to the gallery's mixed exhibitions.