Jon Law’s practice is predicated on the Cageian definition of the experimental: “…an act the outcome of which is unknown.”[1] This is not adhered to in order to deny or preclude any sense of artistic agency, but acts as a tool through which to interrogate the limitations, assumptions and prejudices of his practice: the regularities (habits) and irregularities (accidents) of painting. The application of indeterminancy is regulated through ‘play’- a system of rules. These rules are developed into a variety of ‘expressive systems’ or ‘games’ in which the chance element involves a limited amount of possibilities or permutations. Although firmly situated within the abstract field of painting, the visual language remains polymorphic, shifting through a variety of approaches and methodologies. This results in densely layered surface which reveal the various stages of the painting process as if the works act as archaeologies of themselves.
[1] John Cage (1968), Silence: Lectures and Writings (Marion Boyars Publishing, London, 1968) p. 13.