Prison: A solo exhibition by Jonathan Miles

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Working Rooms is pleased to present Prison, a solo show by Jonathan Miles. This exhibition presents an image of painting, as opposed to paintings of images. We are asked to imagine the space as a prison cell in which paintings are piled up without coherent sense. The artist uses acrylic on canvas to make simple marks and motifs in earthly tones. There are many bodies of paintings numbering over 400 canvases in total. We have on view the fragmentary glimpses of an assembled practice. This is an incomplete picture that goes against the usual conventions of presentation. Here, we are not asked to judge the artwork itself but the dynamic between the artists and his practice. The exhibition argues that it is not just paintings that are being piled up but also the figures of thought, which have been used to sustain the activity itself. The social space of art is questioned, thus invariably doubting its emancipatory possibilities. The artist raises the question ‘How do we sustain our belief between the autonomy of art and the figure of freedom?'