Jon Siddall - Artist and Painter
Jon Siddal - Curbar Ridge Asc of Artists and Painters.
Born in Australia in 1963 Jon moved to the UK as a child with his family in 1974. An early fascination with photography became the core of his degree work in Sheffield and the basis of his later professional work in photo-journalism and more recently – since moving to the Peak District in 1997 – as a part time lecturer. The remainder of his time is now devoted to painting, using a naïve yet sophisticated style he creates work which interrogates the interplay of memory, myth and archetype within a fictive and sliding reality.
Jon’s work draws imagery from his memories of Australia and explores the role that performative myth-making plays in reimagining the now. Earlier works revolved around the death of his daughter in 2006. Working through an obsession with images of Death and the Maiden his work was seen as a ‘raw and brilliantly derisive snub to our current diet of fast-food car-crash drama and “reality” TV’ (Left Lion Magazine #44).
More recently he has become intrigued by Sydney Nolan’s paintings of Ned Kelly, a larger than life historical figure who entered the Australian cultural subconscious after a series of bloody killings and a last stand that embodied the country’s obsession with the underdog against the uneven hand of the law. In reimagining the precise points of Sydney Nolan’s inspiration for the Ned Kelly Paintings Jon Siddall questions the reality of the fictional narrative in a Mobius loop of feedback leaving the viewer in a headlong fall down the rabbit-hole.
Jon’s work draws imagery from his memories of Australia and explores the role that performative myth-making plays in reimagining the now. Earlier works revolved around the death of his daughter in 2006. Working through an obsession with images of Death and the Maiden his work was seen as a ‘raw and brilliantly derisive snub to our current diet of fast-food car-crash drama and “reality” TV’ (Left Lion Magazine #44).
More recently he has become intrigued by Sydney Nolan’s paintings of Ned Kelly, a larger than life historical figure who entered the Australian cultural subconscious after a series of bloody killings and a last stand that embodied the country’s obsession with the underdog against the uneven hand of the law. In reimagining the precise points of Sydney Nolan’s inspiration for the Ned Kelly Paintings Jon Siddall questions the reality of the fictional narrative in a Mobius loop of feedback leaving the viewer in a headlong fall down the rabbit-hole.
Before now, Jon has said he’s unsure whether his preferred art form is painting or chasing Alice and as such Jon’s work has strong political resonances. The possibility or at least dream of annulment of a (historically or socially) fixed identity is a constant focal point. By examining ambiguity and origination via variations and fictional conceit, he uses a visual vocabulary that addresses multiple social issues. His paintings never show the complete structures they allude to and Jon’s artistic interpretations are unhindered by any claims of an objective historical reality. Through nesting several seemingly incompatible worlds within each other, he absorbs the tradition of remembrance art into daily practice. His paintings are both mediation and meditation.
Kelly and his Armour - from the chasing Nolan series by Jon Siddall. Oil on Canvas.
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Fitxpatric and Kate Kelly - from the chasing Nolan series by Jon Siddall. Oil on Canvas.
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Pretty Polly Mine - from the chasing Nolan series by Jon Siddall. Oil on Canvas.
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Death and the Maiden by Jon Siddall. Oil on canvas.
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Death and the Maiden II by Jon Siddall. Oil on canvas.
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