Jonathan Michael Ray

Jonathan Michael Ray’s multidisciplinary practice spans sculpture, craft, photography, drawing, and installation. Deeply attuned to his surroundings, his work often grows from encounters with the landscapes and histories he engages with. Each project begins with a process of discovery — gathering a constellation of historical references, stories, ideas, and mysteries embedded within artefacts, materials, and places.

Collage and assemblage recur throughout Ray’s practice, regardless of medium. He often works with found objects, imagery, and text alongside his own, weaving their symbolism and emotional resonance into new contexts and layers of meaning. In addition to working with materials drawn from or connected to specific landscapes, a central strand of his practice involves the collecting, repurposing, and reworking of historical artefacts, most notably expressed in his series of antique stained-glass collage works.

By layering stories, materials, and processes, Ray seeks to look beyond the surface of a purely literal understanding of the world. His work invites viewers to do the same — to pause, look closer, and uncover the interwoven histories shaping our sense of place and meaning.

Jonathan Michael Ray (b.1984 High Wycombe, UK) lives and works in Penzance, Cornwall, UK. He completed an MFA in Fine Art Media at Slade, UCL in 2016, and a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University  in 2007. Recent UK exhibitions include Tate St Ives (duo), Anima Mundi (solo), Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Newlyn Art Gallery (solo), Exeter Phoenix Gallery, Harlem Artspace, OHSH Projects, Hweg Gallery, and NewArtCentre. He has taken part in artist residencies in Hong Kong, Portugal and the UK, most recently a month-long residency in Orkney, and has had public works commissioned by Trowbridge Townhall, Tremenheere Sculpture Garden and the London School of Economics.