STL Jewish Light
October 2, 2017
I first saw St. Louis artist Howard Jones’ work a couple of years ago in a show at the Contemporary Art Gallery at St. Louis Community College - Meramec. His art made me smile then and his new show, “Howard Jones: Think Rethink,” at Craft Alliance – Delmar makes me smile now. I’d bet that most viewers have the same reaction to his work.
“Think Rethink” changes the way we relate to tools and their uses. Each piece is made up of the combination of two ordinary items, like a shovel and chain or paintbrush and gloves. We take all these items in their normal forms for granted and don’t expect to see them modified quite like this. Jones’ new, extraordinary objects are impossible to use for the purpose that each component was originally intended, such as “Shovel Cluster," a triple-bladed shovel with one handle. Part of the fun of the exhibition is imagining new purposes for each object.