Bonner David Galleries | 2/16-3/13 | New York, NY

Joyful Show-offs

Bonner David Galleries in New York City presents the vibrant floral still lifes of artist Jane Jones

There’s still life painting, and then there’s garden-to-easel still life painting. “Except for the orchids, everything that I paint, we have grown in our garden,” floral artist Jane Jones tells us. In other words, she takes process to a higher level.

While her green thumb may play a small part in it, Jones’ work ethic and passion for the craft of painting certainly get credit for her enduring, 40-year career. She’s weathered the comings and goings of several galleries in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she still shows today. And on the eve of her exhibition at Bonner David Galleries in New York City, she also has a touring one-woman museum exhibition, currently on view at Chicago Academy of Sciences Nature Museum. Broken, oil on canvas, 26 x 64"“It’ll be an exciting time because it will be her first New York show,” says Bonner David co-founder Clark David Olson. “Any debut show of an artist in New York is a real high point in their career. And so for Jane, who really doesn’t travel a lot—she’s a Colorado born and bred kind of girl—it’ll be a chance for her to really experience the big leagues.” Mysteries at Risk, oil on canvas, 47 x 72"Even before opening the first Bonner David Galleries, Olson was a champion and a collector of Jones’ work. He and partner Christi Bonner Manuelito, have one criterion when it comes to working with artists: “Would I buy it?” Her work hangs in his home to this day.

While still lifes are not a huge component of the 21st century market, Olson’s clients remain passionate about the art form. “I think there is a certain caliber of collector who still really enjoys looking at a painting just for its pure beauty. And I think that’s what still life does, and particularly Jane’s compositions,” he says. Neighbors, oil on canvas, 28 x 22"For Jones, the meaning of the work is twofold. Her paintings pay homage to the power and beauty of nature, both the physical sustenance it provides as well as its aesthetic value. And perhaps in a nod to the memento mori tradition, her delicate subjects can also reflect the fragility of nature, the human footprint and the prospect of a planet in peril. In the Arms of Mother Nature, oil on canvas, 30 x 26" “I paint in the Dutch tradition and I use symbolism in my paintings to communicate,” says Jones, who focused on climate change for her museum show. “Trying to come up with ways to communicate and educate about the climate crisis in a beautiful way was challenging,” she says. “When I was contemplating what I wanted to paint for Joyful Show-Offs, I thought, I just want to paint joy.” —