Carter London
29 Orsman Road
London N1 5RA
www.carterpresents.org
tel:07828 553 080
email: carterpresents@gmail.com
Jonathan Gent
Private View Saturday 23rd January 2010
6.30 - 9.30 pm
show runs until 21st February 2010
Gallery open Thursday - Saturdays 12.pm - 5.30pm and by appointment
If you wish to visit the gallery outside of these times then please don't hesitate to contact Carter by telephone and or email
Jonathan Gent's paintings are perceptive observations on human complexity. Humorous, wry and acutely tuned, his work is punchy and fast, sometimes strikingly minimal and the paintings can often be deceptively simple. Gent's obsession is with the line and the expansion of ideas through its limitless possibilities. His observations on close examination feel painfully incite-full becoming visual poems keenly observed.
In this series of new paintings, Jonathan Gent embarks on a personal journey into the depths of English consciousness.
These anarchic and idiomatic paintings distilled within the confines of a loose Heraldic St George Cross are painfully funny. They mine Gent's own personal history with that of a wider shared one. Pets, sexual fantasies, taboo's and relationships real and imagined converge onto the canvas. Gent's own life becomes woven into a dreamlike narrative. Paul Gascoine's number 19 England shirt haunt the paintings and whose tears after being booked during England's exit in the semi finals of the World Cup in 1990 became the tears of the English nation. Gascoine's subsequent fall from grace and his very public descent into drugs and booze addiction and bankruptcy personifies and parallels a schizophrenic socio-economic English decline where the gap between the affluent and the poorest is as great now as at any time in our history. If Gascoine embodies the tragic face of Englishness, his England team mate of the time Gary Lineker with his steady rise to footballing aristocracy, embodies a bullish England that wont lie down. An England of aspiration, wealth, success and power. The market stall traders son from Leicester more palatable than the grocer's daughter from Grantham.
Born in 1976 in Cheshire England, Jonathan Gent will be having his frst solo exhibition at Carter London January 2010.
Other solo shows include:XVA Gallery the Creek Art Fair Dubai 2008, HOTEL 'America', London 2004, GLU Gallery Los Angeles USA 2004, GLU Gallery 'Shapes and Colours', Los Angeles USA 2005.
Jonathan Gent has work in numerous private and public collections in Europe, Asia, America and The UK.
The Union Jack, the flag of the colonies and the commonwealth is the flag of the world and an empire over which the sun never set. To be British is to be from the world and of the world, but according to some disillusioned and misdirected souls, not all can be English and only a select few are wanted by them to be so. Increasingly they fly the George cross on their council estates whilst the landed, the rich and the royal's fly the Union Jack from their battlements.
The St George Cross has been appropriated by a white working class and underclass synonymous with pit bulls and Council Estates and has been adopted as the flag of the right wing BNP. To the misguided It represents an idealized England now lost but wished for again. To them, The George Cross does not represent this modern multiracial and multi faith country which England has become in the 21st Century. To them, this is not the England that their fathers and fore fathers fought and died for and to them, St George symbolizes and epitomizes everything that is English just as Shakespeare's Henry V rouses his men at Agincourt.
"I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"
But George himself according to legend, (as there is very little written of him if he even existed) was born into a noble Christian family in Lydda (Lod) in Palestine during the late 3rd century of a Cappadocian father serving in The Roman army and a Palestinian mother. George became a Tribune under Diocletian, and was beheaded when ordered by the Emperor to pay tribute to Roman gods. He become a martyr and was celebrated by many around the world because of his strong beliefs and his refusal to denounce them. He died for a monotheistic God and is as much respected by Islam as he is venerated by Christians. He has become a truly global saint who crosses continents and religious ideology. St George is Patron Saint not only of England but also of Aragon, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, Gozo, Pomorie, Qormi, Lod and Moscow.
In The Quran Muslims across the Middle East have traditionally associated George with Al Khadr, literally ‘the Green One’, signifying wisdom that is ever fresh and imperishable. According to tradition, George often prayed near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where an elongated mosque named Qubbat Al-Khadr is dedicated to him. George’s shrine in Palestine came to be a place of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims seeking out its special healing powers. Women visited the site in hope of conceiving, while those with health complaints would go there for miraculous cures. It is still very much visited today. Other sites include The great Beirut mosque of Al-Khadr that lies close to where George legendarily slayed the dragon, saved a princess and caused the whole city to convert to Christianity.
It was during the crusades where St George was really picked up by the Christian Knights. The cult of the saint was given a huge boost when he was said to have appeared to the crusading armies at the Battle of Dorylaeum, in 1097, and the Siege of Antioch, in 1198. Both were great crusading victories, and so St George came to be seen as a protector of Christian soldiery. During the first Crusade, the Pope decided that knights of different nationalites should be distinguished by different colours of cross. French knights were allocated the red cross on white. English knights had a white cross on a red background etc, etc. English knights complained about this, since they considered this to be "their" St George's cross. In 1188 the French King, Philip II of France accepted the claim of the English to the red cross on white and the English and French officially exchanged their respective crosses. However by this time, the red cross on white had become a typical crusader symbol and many knights from whatever country and order would wear the tunic. The Chivalric military Order of St. George were established in Aragon (1201), Genoa, Hungary, and by Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and England's Edward III put his Order of the Garter under the banner of St. George. From about 1277, due to its already widespread use, St George's cross officially became the national flag of England and Wales and The three lions remained the coat of arms and flag of the king.
(copyright Carter 2010)
Jonathan Gent's paintings are perceptive observations on human complexity. Humorous, wry, and acutely tuned his work is punchy and fast. Sometimes strikingly minimal, they can often be deceptively simple. Gent's obsession is with the line and the expansion of ideas through its limitless possibilities. His observations on close examination feel painfully incite-full. They are visual poems keenly observed. In this series of new paintings, Jonathan Gent embarks on a personal journey into the depths of English consciousness.
Originally from a council estate in Manchester, Jonathan Gent's paintings mine his own personal history with that of a wider shared one. Pets, sexual fantasies, taboo's and relationships real and imagined converge onto the canvas. Gent's own life becomes interlinked and both his private and the public life become woven through a dreamlike narrative. Flawed heroes such as Paul Gascoine and his number 19 England shirt haunt the paintings and whose tears after being booked during England's exit in the semi finals of the World Cup by The West Germans in 1990 became the tears of the English nation. Gascoine's subsequent fall from grace and his very public descent into drugs and booze addiction and bankruptcy personifies and parallel's a schizophrenic socio-economic English decline where the gap between the affluent rich and the poorest is as great now as at any time in our history. If Gascoine personifies the tragic side of Englishness, his England team mate of the time Gary Lineker personifies and parallel's a Bullish England that wont lie down, an England of aspiration wealth and success with his steady rise to footballing aristocracy and power. The market stall traders son from Leicester done good. Much more palatable than the grocer's daughter from Grantham. These anarchic and idiomatic paintings are all distilled within the confines of a loose Heraldic St George Cross.
(Thoughts on The St George Cross)
Because of an increasingly misinformed racist undertone of exclusivity and of an Englishness which is still divided as much by wealth disparity, misinformation, myth, class and a north / south divide as it ever was, the working class now fly the English flags on their council estates, whilst the landed, the rich and the royal's fly the Union Jack from their battlements.
The Union Jack, the flag of the colonies and the commonwealth is the flag of the world and of the greatest empire this world has ever seen. An empire which the sun never set upon. To be British is to be a man/woman from the world and of the world, but according to some disillusioned and misdirected souls not all can be English and only a select few are wanted by them to be so.
The St George Cross has been appropriated by a white working class and underclass synonymous with pit bulls and Council Estates and has been adopted as the flag of the right wing BNP. To the misguided It represents an idealized England now lost but wished for again. To them, The George Cross does not represent this modern multiracial and multi faith country which England has become in the 21st Century. To them, this is not the England that their fathers and fore fathers fought and died for and to them, St George symbolizes and epitomizes everything that is English just as Shakespeare's Henry V rouses his men at Agincourt before the greatest of all victories in English military history.
"I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'"
But George himself according to legend/likelihood was born into a noble Christian family in Lydda (Lod) in Palestine during the late 3rd century of a Cappadocian father serving in The Roman army and a Palestinian mother. George became a Tribune under Diocletian, and was beheaded when ordered by the Emperor, to pay tribute to Roman gods. He become a martyr and was celebrated by many around the world because of his strong beliefs and his refusal to denounce them. He died for a monotheistic God and is as much respected by Islam as he is venerated by Christians. He has become a truly global saint who crosses continents and religious ideology. St George is Patron Saint not only of England but also of Aragon, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal, and Russia, as well as the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Bteghrine, Càceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, Gozo, Pomorie, Qormi, Lod and Moscow.
In The Quran Muslims across the Middle East have traditionally associated George with Al Khadr, literally Ôthe Green OneÕ, signifying wisdom that is ever fresh and imperishable. According to tradition, George often prayed near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem where an elongated mosque named Qubbat Al-Khadr is dedicated to him. GeorgeÕs shrine in Palestine came to be a place of pilgrimage for Christians and Muslims seeking out its special healing powers. Women visited the site in hope of conceiving, while those with health complaints would go there for miraculous cures. It is still very much visited today. Other sites include The great Beirut mosque of Al-Khadr that lies close to where George legendarily slayed the dragon, saved a princess and caused the whole city to convert to Christianity.
It was during the crusades where St George was really picked up by the Christian Knights. The cult of the saint was given a huge boost when he was said to have appeared to the crusading armies at the Battle of Dorylaeum, in 1097, and the Siege of Antioch, in 1198. Both were great crusading victories, and so St George came to be seen as a protector of Christian soldiery. During the first Crusade, the Pope decided that knights of different nationalites should be distinguished by different colours of cross. French knights were allocated the red cross on white. English knights had a white cross on a red background etc, etc. English knights complained about this, since they considered this to be "their" St George's cross. In 1188 the French King, Philip II of France accepted the claim of the English to the red cross on white and the English and French officially exchanged their respective crosses. However by this time, the red cross on white had become a typical crusader symbol and many knights from whatever country and order would wear the tunic. The Chivalric military Order of St. George were established in Aragon (1201), Genoa, Hungary, and by Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and England's Edward III put his Order of the Garter under the banner of St. George. From about 1277, due to its already widespread use, St George's cross officially became the national flag of England and Wales and The three lions remained the coat of arms and flag of the king.
