Meet Gethin Wyn Jones
Gethin Wyn Jones is a Welsh and Swedish artist who currently resides in Stockholm. In 2015, Gethin completed a Masters in Fine Arts at the Baltic Gallery and Northumbria University. Subsequently, Gethin pursued further artistic education as a guest student at the Royal Institute of Art in Stockholm.
Gethin's artistic repertoire spans various mediums, encompassing painting, sculpture, and film. Central to their creative philosophy are the concepts of seduction, glossiness, and surface. Gethin strives to produce artworks that are visually captivating, deliberately crafted to elicit strong reactions and maintain viewers in a perpetual state of excitement and anticipation.
At the core of Gethin's artistic exploration lies a profound inquiry into commodity aesthetics within a wide spectrum of representational codes and conventions. This investigation has led Gethin to cultivate a deep interest in themes such as gender, the fetishization of surface, and the influence of advertisement in contemporary culture.
IKT delegates will get an opportunity to experience Gethin’s work titled Profundis, when visiting HAUS artist studios in Llandudno during IKT Congress 2023.
Artist Statement about Profundis
“Marlboro is a recurring motif of mine – I make a lot of connections to it. The appeal of the brand, for me, goes back to my childhood in North Wales. It was appealing with its exotic imagery – something I was drawn to when I was younger, having been brought up in a very different environment, far from the alluring Marlboro brand.
The Marlboro cigarettes were initially marketed towards women, but it wasn’t until the strategy changed and men became the target group, turning the previously female coded cigarettes to masculine, that it became a success. For me, this plays with gender codes: female, male, transgenderism – in short, queerness.
The title of my piece, Profundis, is inspired by the Oscar Wilde Letter, De Profundis, which he wrote from prison – where he was sent after a trial that criminalised his queerness. The trial started at The Marlborough Magistrates Court, a street name that inspired the brand name of the cigarettes. Profundis also has a connection to the muscle in the forearm that flexes the fingers – the flexor digitorum profundus, used when smoking a cigarette – used to be female, now very masculine, Marlboro Man cigarette.
About the choice of material
I want to reference classical sculptures by creating the cigarettes in from Italian marble. The cigarette pack is created using an industrial process of chemical etching, that gives it a gilded, sharp look. I wanted to elevate the otherwise disposable cigarette pack and preserve the feeling you get when opening a new package – polished and perfect. A feeling that quickly fades, until eventually you toss the pack away.”