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Untitled (A Return to Nature I)

by Jonathan Alibone

‘My art is an interrogation of western culture’s beliefs and values, and an exploration of the tension between faith and doubt, physical desire and spiritual longing.  It can be read as an articulation of the uncertainty and irreconcilable antagonisms inherent in our existence.'
 
Alibone sources images and text from the cultural ephemera of film, magazines, pulp fiction and pornography, dislocating and setting them adrift from their original contextual moorings.  Although the appropriated subjects’ cultural and symbolic associations are retained, they are here co-opted; when re-imagined and repositioned, they achieve a new potency, becoming ambivalent signifiers of moral emptiness, skepticism, and self disgust.  The viewer is no longer a passive consumer but a voyeur and participant, implicated in a nihilistic culture’s obsessions, perversions, and hunger for meaning.

Jonathan Alibone is an artist based in the United Kingdom, and is currently both a resident and curator of The Sanctuary in Northampton, England.  He has exhibited widely and his work features in collections in the UK, Europe, Russia and North America.
 

As part of the collaborative practice 'Articulating History', alongside fellow artist Alexander Small, Alibone has been artist in residence at the Northampton General Hospital's Archive since September 2012.  The residency will culminate in an exhibition in the autumn of 2013, with new work inspired by the archive's collection.

Forthcoming exhibitions:
'NN Contemporary Art Open Exhibition' - NN Contemporary Art Northampton, Northampton, 12 December 2013 - 29 January 2014.

Current exhibitions:
'Small Acts of Detachment' - Collective Collaborations, Northampton, 14 November - 14 December 2013.
'The Title Art Prize 2013' - BLANKSPACE, Manchester, 7 November - 1 December 2013
 

Past exhibitions:
'10 Years of The Sanctuary - Exhibition and Open Studios' - The Sanctuary, Northampton, October 4 - November 2, 2013. 
'The Cork Street Open Exhibition' - The Gallery, 28 Cork Street, London, 9 - 16 August 2013.
'To All Who Come To This Happy Place' - Reading Room Gallery, Soho, London, 30 April - 31May 2013.
'Deck the Walls' - Opus Fine Art, Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire, 8 December 2012 - 8 January 2013.
'Crash Open Salon 2012' - Charlie Dutton Gallery, London,12 December 2012 - 12 January 2013.
'Project 2012: The End of The World Exhibition Finale' - Mile End Art Pavilion, London, 10 - 16 December, 2012.
'Artefacts of Failure' - Quad, Market Place, Derby, 27 July - 7 October 2012 (www.derbyquad.co.uk).
'The Cabinet Exhibition' - Islington Arts Factory, London, 14 - 21 September 2012.
'Past and Present' - Occupy My Time Gallery, 9 Resolution Way, Deptford, London, June 2012. 
'Project 2012 - The End of the World' - The Gallery on the Corner, Battersea, London, March 2012. 
'Answers on the Front of a Postcard' - Opus Fine Art, Newcastle upon Tyne, December 2011 to January 2012.
'Crash Open 2011' - Charlie Dutton Gallery, London, December 2011 to January 2012.

Upcoming exhibitions:
'NN Contemporary Open Exhibition Launch', at NN Contemporary Art Northampton, Northampton from 12 December 2013 - 29 January 2014.

Current exhibitions:
'Small Acts of Detachment' - Collective Collaborations, Northampton, 14 November - 14 December 2013.
'The Title Art Prize 2013' - BLANKSPACE, Manchester, 7 November - 1 December 2013.

Past exhibitions:
'10 Years of The Sanctuary - Exhibition and Open Studios' - The Sanctuary, Northampton, October 4 - November 2, 2013. 
'The Cork Street Open Exhibition' - The Gallery, 28 Cork Street, London, 9 - 16 August 2013.
'To All Who Come To This Happy Place' - Reading Room Gallery, Soho, London, 30 April - 31May 2013.
'Deck the Walls' - Opus Fine Art, Stow on the Wold, Gloucestershire, 8 December 2012 - 8 January 2013.
'Crash Open Salon 2012' - Charlie Dutton Gallery, London,12 December 2012 - 12 January 2013.
'Project 2012: The End of The World Exhibition Finale' - Mile End Art Pavilion, London, 10 - 16 December, 2012.
'Artefacts of Failure' - Quad, Market Place, Derby, 27 July - 7 October 2012 (www.derbyquad.co.uk).
'The Cabinet Exhibition' - Islington Arts Factory, London, 14 - 21 September 2012.
'Past and Present' - Occupy My Time Gallery, 9 Resolution Way, Deptford, London, June 2012. 
'Project 2012 - The End of the World' - The Gallery on the Corner, Battersea, London, March 2012. 
'Answers on the Front of a Postcard' - Opus Fine Art, Newcastle upon Tyne, December 2011 to January 2012.
'Crash Open 2011' - Charlie Dutton Gallery, London, December 2011 to January 2012.