Jonathan Michael Ray 'Long Way Home'

JONATHAN MICHAEL RAY LONG WAY HOME

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost ‘The Road Not Taken’
1

Long Way Home
Much of Jonathan Michael Ray’s art practice,
primarily sculptural, utilizing a diverse and
ever growing skillset of medium and mode, has
become deeply connected to his surroundings.
Routine exploration of the landscape, both
rural and urban, often leads to a gathering of
artefacts that may then become the basis of
new works. Though potentially far removed
from their origin, through a process of
reassembly, these materials imbue each piece
with rich, multi-layered histories, that in turn
communicate something of the physical and
metaphysical experience.
Long Way Home embraces this duality,
where works are loosely divided to reflect
both the journey through the exterior
landscape and an internal journey in search of
something other.
In the first exhibition space sits Earthen Cairn
which is comprised of a tall stack of river
worn bricks, imitating a chimney, reminiscent
of those that populate the Cornish landscape,
and stands perhaps as a ruin and memorial
to a bygone age of industry. An Irregular Ode
to an Unknown Craftsman depicts a flint wall,
contradictorily made with leaded glass and hung
like a pub sign. It is a combination which both
evokes the potential fragility of prosaic tradition
and seeks to celebrate how identity and definition
of community is somehow upheld through the
generations, through an unspoken awareness
of ‘the old ways’ and ‘the lay of the land’. The
second room presents two engraved limestone
blocks placed among stained glass compositions
and relic like objects. In Holy Reunion,
fragmented saints, that would have once
gazed towards the heavens in unity, are now
re-arranged, segregated and searching in
disembodied and disorientated confusion. In
the works Each Figure Now a Phantom and Pulvis
et Umbra Sumas, curious items found in flea
markets and antique shops are arranged by
Ray into shrine-like memorials which further
embellish their mystery.
The inherent qualities of the materials and
objects - their forming, age, stories and passage
- all play inexplicit yet vital roles within Ray’s
oeuvre. Whether responding to graffiti from
historical sites, reconfigured antique stained
glass reclaimed from church windows, or
elaborate framing methods for his own
photography, the works are filled with cryptic
yet deeply felt declarations. In this palimpsestic
fusion of the age-old and the transient, the
passage of time folds in on itself becoming
a distillation which we call the ‘now’. Ray’s
whispered messages rhyme a tune that is
melancholic yet simultaneously playful,
heartfelt and enduring. One where we can
perhaps recognize and meditate on something
of our collective past, present and future.
2

3

An Irregular Ode to an Unknown Craftsman
UV print of photograph on vinyl, glass, lead and oak, 93 x 65 x 2 cm
A photograph of a beautiful flint stone wall with pronounced pointing was taken by Ray in Lyme Regis, Dorset.
The image was subsequently printed on vinyl and adhered to glass, then leaded and hung like a pub sign.
4

5

6

Earthen Cairn
found bricks from London Thames foreshore, 200 x 60 x 60 cm
This work is constructed from approximately 300 London stock bricks, which were handmade in the 19 th / early
20 th century. They were collected from the banks of the river Thames in South London, and having spent years in
the water have been rounded like pebbles by the ebb and flow of the river tide. A cairn is a man-made pile of stones
raised for a specific purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound, however this tower also happens to look like a
factory chimney stack, and although Ray originally made this work before moving to Cornwall, it also reflects
the now redundant old engine houses which proliferate the Cornish landscape as remnants of its mining past.
7

Cell
digital c-type photograph on paper and reclaimed glass, lead, oak, 57 x 57 x 2.5 cm
A colour photograph of the Atlantic Ocean is framed in oak behind a reclaimed latice leaded window. The
image is taken on colour film, in square medium format.
8

9

10

Thicket
digital c-type photograph on paper and reclaimed glass, lead, oak, 78 x 78 x 3 cm
A colour photograph taken when peering through a hedge is framed in oak behind a reclaimed latice leaded
window. The image is taken on colour film, in square medium format.
11

Along the Way 1 (back / front)
silver gelatin photograph, copper coins, tin sheet, oak, galvanised steel, 49.5 x 88 x 6 cm
12

Multiple exposure photographs taken along the Tinners Way (an 18 mile ancient pathway) are mounted on English
oak, then set on galvanised steel swinging gate hinges. On the reverse side are pre-decimal one penny coins
hammered into the natural splits in the wood, like a wish tree but also making reference to the lodes of copper
that were mined in this area between the 18 th and 20 th centuries, a heritage emphasised by the addition of a found
piece of tin sheet.
13

14

Along the Way 2 (back / front)
silver gelatin photograph, copper coins, tin sheet, oak, galvanised steel, 49.5 x 88 x 6 cm
15

Ere Long Done Do Does Did
engraved and gilded slate, 87 x 61.5 x 3 cm
This gravestone-like sculptural tablet invokes place and time through ideas of the eternal and remembrance.
The graphic lines are tracings of symbols found on 18th century headstones at Tavistock Cemetery, Devon. The
title is taken from a lyric in ‘Cemetry Gates’ (1986) by The Smiths. The song contemplates finding inspiration
in the creative work of others, a consideration shared by Ray in his use and appropriation of historical marks.
16

17

Left : To The Goddess, Willingly and with Reason (Ex Voto 1) / Right : The Bones That Await Yours (Ex Voto 2)
limestone.engraved and gilded . 40 x 20 x 10 cm
18

Two blocks of Portuguese limestone (as ubiquitous in Portugal as granite is in Cornwall) have been engraved
and gilded with markings collected from travel across Portugal - some ancient, some modern, some sacred, some
mundane or perhaps even offensive.
19

Pedestrian Scriptures
cyanotype print on paper and aluminium, 73 x 156 x 5 cm
This work is a cyanotype of a photograph taken at a Pena Palace in Sintra, Portugal of
graffiti scratched into the exterior plaster walls of the palace by tourists as they queue up and walk around
the palace grounds
20

21

22

Under Raking Light
etched glass, lead, oak and steel, 87.5 x 125 x 2.5 cm
This piece incorporates leaded clear glass framed in oak and suspended from the ceiling. The glass is engraved
all over with layered 15 th -18 th century English church graffiti. Some of the graffiti would have been made
by pilgrims and local parishioners. These ancient markings can only be seen scratched on to the church walls
under a raking light, hence the title of the piece. There is something haunting about these trace marks that is
reflected in the finished work.
23

Holy Reunion
stained glass, lead, oak, 85 x 65 x 3 cm
In this work a reclaimed antique church window, with the twelve disciples looking to
the sky, probably to Jesus ascending to heaven in an missing upper panel, has been dismantled
and recomposed.
24

25

26

Post Modern Revival
stained glass fragments, lead in LED back lit frame, 51 x 32 x 5 cm
This work is made from reclaimed 19 th century church glass, cut and arranged within a rectangle
corresponding to the golden ratio. The golden ratio can be witnessed throughout nature, in plants, animals,
weather structures, star systems and is ever present within the universe. The golden ratio has also
frequently appeared in art, architecture, and the natural sciences since the 5 th C bc to achieve beauty, balance,
and harmony.
27

The Chapel
stained glass, lead in LED back lit frame, 35 x 24.5 x 5 cm
28

29

30

Garden of Time
stained glass, lead in LED back lit frame, 34.5 x 21.5 x 5 cm
31

In Ruins
stained glass, lead in LED back lit frame, 34.5 x 24 x 5 cm
32

33

34

Pulvis et Umbra Sumas (We Are But Dust and Shadow)
glass bottles, fossil, coin, thimble, stereoscopic image, slate, glass, steel, 35 x 20 x 45 cm
This work is one of a series of ‘memento mori’ assemblages. The titles are taken from sun dial mottos.
This one translates as ‘we are but dust and shadow’. The objects on the shelf, are collected from
landscape and antique shops in the South West of England. Included are antique bottles (possibly scientific
or pharmaceutical), a fossilised oyster shell known as a devil’s toe nail, a thimble and coin / token (found by
metal detecting), and a stereoscopic image of an ambiguous ‘dig’. The slate shelf is part of a reclaimed Cornish
flagstone.
35

Each Figure Now A Phantom
found objects, limestone, glass, steel, 58 x 120 x 20 cm
Objects collected from flea markets, graveyards and quarries in Portugal are arranged as a shrine-like
‘memento mori’.
36

37

Biography
Jonathan Michael Ray was born in High Wycombe, UK and has been based in West Cornwall since 2018. He
studied at Nottingham Trent in 2007 and at Slade School of Fine Art in 2016. Last year Ray was selected to take
part in Masterclass at Zabludowicz Collection, London, he and Verity Birt organised “Gathering” a group exhibition
at Grays Wharf, Penryn, and was shortlisted for the National Sculpture Prize at Broomhill Estate in Devon. His work
was recently subject of a two person presentation with Willeminha Barnes Graham at Tate St Ives in Summer 2022.
Published by Anima Mundi to coincide with Jonathan Michael Ray ‘Long Way Home”
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publishers
Anima Mundi . Street-an-Pol . St. Ives . Cornwall . +44 (0)1736 793121 . mail@animamundigallery.com . www.animamundigallery.com

www.animamundigallery.com