Two Tone No. 2 (2004)
Oil and acrylic on canvas 25,5 x 36 cm
Courtesy: Galerie Xippas, Paris
The piled up cars appearing in Jeremy Dickinson’s works are actually some models from his own vast collection of toy cars. He first of all makes the compositions himself before depicting them in his paintings. The reference back to the nature of children’s games is quite telling. As Baudelaire already explained in his essay Morale du joujou, toys test our ability to play as a way of acquiring knowledge and as critical experimentation. Underlying the apparent chaos and disorder of children’s games is a whole plethora of dynamics and decisions totally suffused with experimental potential and creative freedom. When applied to a reality such as ours, defined by an accumulation of vehicles, an excess of production and environmental overload, Jeremy Dickinson’s work elicits an equally critical and playful reflection. A game of ordering and observation of chaos and accumulation.
