2009
Dimensions: 200cm x 105cm x 70cm
Site specific Artwork developed in response to the electrical and industrial features of an empty workshop space. A metallic sculpture appearing like an industrial space age battery, futuristic shrine or sci-fi energy station exudes a powerful and electrifying presence within an empty workshop space. 'Capsule' combines mirror finish industrial materials and neon light.
Extract from 'Energy Encapsulated' article in Casoria International Contemporary Art Museum, online art amgazine, Naples, Italy
Review written by John Brown
Jessica Lloyd Jones' new work entitled 'Capsule' is an uncompromising object, and first impressions give the appearance of an enlarged electronic valve or some unknown electronic apparatus. In some ways it could be likened to a found object that had been discarded from an experimental science laboratory. Found, then set on a mirrored surface mounted on a pure white plinth. But this work has been skillfully constructed with modified engineered parts.
The work had something of the presence of an altar piece. It reminded me of one I saw in a church in the village of Turre in Southern Spain. Not in its actual physical form, but in the intangible elemental energy that both objects were imbued with. Indeed I remember thinking at the time that the altar piece was meant to have an energy that communicated with a higher deity. But this work has a Frankensteinian futuristic feel about it, and wouldn't seem out of place in a sci-fi scene. She uses the glass container as an evocative element to hold and expose to the viewer the idea contained in her work.
Visual Analysis -
At first glance 'Capsule' appears to be a container of energy. Constructed from standard engineering products that have been modified to the artist's specifications, it does seem to be something other than a piece of sculpture. The exhibition space appears to be the control centre for electrical switchgear controlling the Centre's electrical energy. The surrounding equipment lends a sympathetic and integrated backdrop for the work. A formed violet neon tube acts as a filament effusing power and energy. It exudes a powerful and electrifying presence within the empty space. Is it an inert aesthetic work in its own environment? Not quite for this aspect of the work soon gives way to a new interest as the 'Capsule' shows life and energy. In the same way that Marcel Duchamp's "Large Glass" is often referred to as a machine, so Capsule begins to work. The light it catches and reflects through its surfaces and the electronically charged violet filament which glows and fades as the natural light streaming through the gallery window becomes more then less intense. Within the glass tube is a formed neon tube and, depending on the natural light source entering the exhibition space, the energy quotient expressed in the work changes. As the light gets less intense the neon filament tube glows brighter until at its brightest in the dark. The capsule tube being semi-reflective makes the tube almost non-existent in certain lights. At other times it glows with a ferocity that exudes a powerful energy.
Perhaps it would be an error to focus simply on the idea expressed in the work at the expense of ignoring the aesthetic qualities. Again one can refer to science or at least mathematics where, an elegance of structure is an indicator to the correctness of a mathematical calculation or the results of some scientific research. Likewise Jessica's Capsule has an elegance that attracts the viewer to engage with the work. Her work can be seen through an eye that seeks the aesthetic form. I think the two elements, the idea on the one hand and the construction on the other, form an aesthetic through the making and matching process she uses in the construction of the work.
Interpretation -
In the early part of the 20th century artists were inspired by the advances in science and technology. The world has a habit of becoming a different place after the advances in abstract ideas through science and mathematics begin to percolate through into the public consciousness. Something similar seems to be happening now in this early part of the 21st century. Art now is more interested in expressing an idea beyond the object on view. But interestingly, after the Conceptual art movement which heralded a new art started in the 1960's, eventually holding the view that art could discard with the object. The object is making a comeback, (if it ever actually went away). Jessica Lloyd Jones' work is a good example of the current move to constructing not an idea, but using the idea to construct the work. Much could be said about this process. . The work is an expression of a life-enhancing energy.
Compare this with Marcel Duchamp's "The Bride Stripped Bare by the Bachelors Even", more popularly known as "The Large Glass". Not that the subject matter is similar, but that the object can somehow lead to a literal understanding of the idea. Albeit not necessarily that the artist wishes to convey directly an idea. Rather that the principle behind the notion that intangible elements of an idea in an artefact can be experienced through the object Seen as it were in the mind's eye. The object when addressed by the viewer becomes a potential catalyst for an expression of an idea that the viewer generates for himself.
'Capsule' deals with energy, light and reflection. The main body of the work stands upon a reflective surface. The chromium plated ends pieces act as a sort of polarity connecting positive to negative, charging or supplying the formed neon strip contained inside the glass capsule. Unlike Marcel Duchamp Jessica Lloyd Jones isn't mischievous about her working process and supporting statements are direct, but non-the-less the work can be addressed and experienced in many different ways. The new knowledge about genes and cells imply that energy creates them, and it is an energy that makes them work in the way that keeps us healthy. When the energy gets out of control, newly discovered drugs in the form of capsules can adjust miscreant energies. Scientists devise ways to make energy reflect, assimilate and adjust the way microbiological elements in our bodies work. Jessica Lloyd Jones 'Capsule' can be a stimulant to many interpretations that have a relevance to creative thinking about the state of contemporary art and science, and this makes it in my view a seminal work. Could it be that 'Capsule' expresses as metaphor what Michael Angelo was expressing when he painted God creating Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?
This work stands as a piece within the gallery space as an idea about something we just about comprehend. This makes it an avant garde work for it is of the present" -John Brown, 2009