Allen Jones RA: Edginess and a sense of risk permeates playful Royal Academy exhibition

This article originally appeared on Culture24.

Exhibition review: Allen Jones RA, Royal Academy of Arts, London, November 13 – January 25 2015

Conversations about the artworks of Allen Jones tend to be dominated by Hat Stand, Table and Chair - the controversial trio of female sculptures, clad in fetish clothing and contorted into furniture. The feminist feuds and public backlash those sculptures provoked in the 1970s and 80s were both unintentional and unforeseen by the British Pop artist, says Edith Devaney, the curator of the new show at the Royal Academy.

“The reaction took him by great surprise,” she explains, refuting that Jones’ work is misogynistic. “He was trying to make a radical statement about art and our perceptions of it.”

At a time when abstract expressionism was really taking hold, he made the figure central again. Jones literally lifted the female form from its two-dimensional canvas or static plinth and breathed life into something viscerally human.

The show’s opening gambit is to display Table in the first room, alongside Green Table, a slightly later work, from 1972. “If anyone has any doubt the original Table is a piece of art, Green Table makes that much more obvious”, says Devaney, in reference to the table top itself being shaped as a paint-splodged artist’s palette and the fact that the figure is much more focused outward.

But the Royal Academy exhibition doesn’t let these much-debated sculptures eclipse the artist’s identity as a painter. The first and largest gallery - which hosts solely paintings - is a beautiful, theatrical riot of colour, with works spanning five decades. “I wanted to make sure there was a big room of painting and nothing else – it can be very distracting to have sculpture in the middle of the floor,” says Devaney.

Inherent in these paintings is Jones’ fascination with the figure and with sexuality. An edginess and sense of risk permeates throughout, as does the artist’s focus on conveying movement and energy.

Jones frequently employs storyboarding techniques to imbue his work with a cinematic sense of action and atmosphere – he captures a moment and makes it feels as if you are walking in on something mid-event. Exhibition-goers are given an insight into this process via a selection of drawings on display. “The way he draws is fascinating and I don’t know anyone else who works in that way,” says Devaney.

The idea of performance is present in all his works. Cut-out painted sculptures of dancing couples transform another gallery into a dynamic ballroom floor.

The energetic swirl of limbs blurs the distinction between one gender and another. In the next is a chorus-line of glamorous sculptures and arresting portraits of cultural icons Kate Moss and Darcey Bussell, reflecting the strong impact of cult images from 1960s America on his work.

This long overdue appraisal is the first major Allen Jones exhibition in the UK since 1995. While his notorious sculptures are present – and very important – the exhibition is successful in not getting lost in that discussion. Instead, it captures the playfulness and sense of celebration inherent in the work of this prolific 77-year-old.

• Open 10am-6pm (10pm Friday, closed December 24-26, 6pm January 2). Admission £8-£11.50 (free for under-16s). Book online.

Follow Kirstie Brewer on twitter @KirstieJBrewer.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.

More from Culture24's exhibition reviews:

Nine artists in citywide Artes Mundi exhibition bring international biennial feel to Cardiff

Robert Heinecken: Selfies and Lessons in Posing Subjects at Liverpool's Open Eye Gallery

A Museum of our Time: masterpieces from the permanent collections at the Guggenheim

Source: http://www.culture24.org.uk//art/art506136-allen-jones-edginess-and-a-sense-of-risk-permeates-playful-royal-academy-exhibition