Jonathan Michael Ray’s ‘Dark Lith’ arrives in the park
Jonathan Michael Ray
Dark Lith, 2023
Cornish Slate, enamel and steel
223 x 98 cm
7ft 3 ¾ x 3ft 2 ⅝ in.
Roche Court Sculpture Park is always changing, with new pieces to see all the time. We recently welcomed a new work to the park. Artist, Jonathan Michael Ray installed his Dark Lith.
Dark Lith evokes the essence of a castle tower or an old chimney stack by a Cornish tin mine, combined with that of a monolith or Neolithic stone circle. Standing stones, or liths, from the Greek lithos (stone), can represent the physical body of an ancestral spirit, or god, and attracted worship. A motif that is truly apposite to its new siting at Roche Court Sculpture Park, close to Salisbury Plain.
Inspired by ancient alphabets, spirit writing, and runic symbols, Ray inscribed the 250 stacked blocks that comprise Dark Lith with an indecipherable script, further amplifying this scared and ominous spiritual narrative. The script is Ray’s own creation, helping to give us a sense of the ancient monolith that is too old for us to understand.
The work is made from slate, coming from the Delabole slate quarry in Cornwall. It is one of the oldest quarries in England and the slate has been used as building material for well over 1,000 years. The slate was notably used to construct the floor platform in the Tintagel Castle Bridge project.
Jonathan Michael Ray began by cutting and drilling the stones from their standard 4” blocks. He then hand-engraved the lettering with a rotary engraver. The engravings were painted using enamel paint, which is the same used for headstones by memorial stone masons around the world.
Ray’s art practice is deeply connected to his surroundings. Comprising of sculpture, assemblage, photography, print, drawing, and video, the work takes inspiration from a variety of sources - from archaeological collections to sacred sites, fantasy, myth and science fiction.
Found objects and images are regularly used, as well as material direct from the landscape. Jonathan Michael Ray’s work concerns looking beyond the surface of a purely physical existence and breaking down the institutions by which we are taught to see and experience the world.
“Collecting is at the heart of my practice. Objects, materials, ideas, process, words. This is my world-building; a complex and vague amalgamation of everything that helps me question and understand existence.”
Born in 1984 in High Wycombe, Jonathan Michael Ray now lives and works in West Cornwall. After graduating from Nottingham Trent University in 2007 with a BA in Fine Art, Ray spent time as a sculptor’s assistant in Montréal, Canada. Through this experience, he began sculpting and started to cultivate his practice. In 2016, he graduated with an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art.
In 2021, Ray was selected to take part in Masterclass at Zabludowicz Collection, London, and was shortlisted for the National Sculpture Prize at the Broomhill Estate in Devon. He has been commissioned by Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens and the London School of Economics.
Jonathan Michael Ray has exhibited at Porthmeor Studios, St Ives; Galleria Ramo, in Como, Italy; the White Crypt Gallery, London; Tate St Ives; Last year his work was the subject of a two-person exhibition alongside Willeminha Barns-Graham at Tate St Ives, followed by a solo show at Anima Mundi Gallery, St Ives. He most recently had a solo exhibition titled The Voice in the Shadow, at Bo Lee & Workman in Bruton.