Jonathan Dredge London, United Kingdom

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With a practice primarily based around photography, cyanotypes and print making, Jonathan's work attempts to capture the essence, atmosphere and nature of place or character. It may be the play of light through trees, the point where the sea meets the sky or the mischief in someone's gaze, it is a constant but elusive preoccupation.

Experience and the act of looking is key for an artist, and it is something that has preoccupied Jonathan since childhood. A key strand in his work is the attempt to capture the essence or atmosphere pf place or character, a constant but elusive preoccupation. It may be the beauty of vegetation as it ages and decays, the play of light through trees or where the sea meets the sky or the twinkle in an eye or mischief in someones gaze. This quest to document a sense of place and feeling feeds his work and experimentation. Politics, both personal and global, preoccupy us all and the zeitgeist agitation feeds into the artist’s state of mind. Jonathan’s recent travels through India have afforded him the opportunity to experience whole new cultures, and the chance to try and view these destinations afresh, without cliché. His practice has been based around photography, cyanotypes and print making, but he is now exploring other mediums of expression, paintbrush in hand. He has exhibited work in the UK as well as far afield as Tokyo. Recent work has been exhibited in the Florence Trust exhibition ‘Reliquary’ and ‘Nature’ at the Glasgow Photography Gallery.

Together with textile artist Ross Belton, he founded the creative collaboration moderneccentrics. With a background that encompasses the creative arts and broadcasting (design, art direction, training, photography and retouching), they combine their experience with the natural and handmade. Looking at the urban environment they examine our relationship with the nature that surrounds us. Identity, personal history and experience informs their concerns, as does a desire to reuse and repurpose.

Lockdown is a period that now seems so far away, like a time of lore or legend, and yet we all experienced it. Offering us all the luxury of time, Jonathan used the opportunity to document the deserted streets of London as well as exhibiting new work and curating a gallery show for the Florence Trust. During this time, the trust helped facilitate a collaboration between moderneccentrics and natural dyeing expert Jenny Dean that led to the creation of a Nomadic Dye Garden at the Florence Trust. With the aid of two ACE (Arts Council England) grants, they were able to develop the garden and offer outside community based creative activities. The moderneccentrics partnership have just delivered their third five day natural dyeing textile course at the V&A Museum South Kensington - Natural Dyeing : A Heritage of Colour, to great acclaim and it is now a central course in the Academy’s yearly curriculum. Jonathan has also delivered workshops for Apple, CassArt, Makerhood and other creative groups.

Jonathan has worked for a variety of magazines and clients as a writer, photographer and videographer. He has collaborated with exhibiting Art groups such as PRISM Textiles, documenting their exhibitions. As a designer he has built a fruitful ongoing collaboration with a variety of creative clients. He designed and published books of his photography, documenting Ross Belton’s Artefact series and their joint exhibition ‘Still Life’ at the Leicester Contemporary.