24/02/2026
Cynefin Athens is delighted to announce current artist in residence, Alison Jones, in dialogue with Cypriot artist Maria Toumazou. Their dialogue will culminate in a solo presentation of Jones’ work at Cynefin Athens in April 2026, dates to be announced soon.
Alison Jones is a painter of art and luxury, fashion and class, and the condition Bourdieu describes as ‘Distinction’. Reveling in painting’s ideological muddledness, and taking pleasure in its guilty status as luxury art object par excellence, her paintings pose in the slippery space between desire and critique. Self-described as “institutional critique in f**k-me shoes”, Jones works with the entanglement of the female gaze in depictions of dressing up and showing off that draw attention to, but also willfully confuse a commentary on femininity and spectatorship.
As well as painting, Alison Jones has made books, posters, performances and curated exhibitions most notably in collaborations with the late Milly Thompson, which erupted between 2010 - 2016 for periodic thoughts on, and reassessments of feminism.
Alison Jones & Maria Toumazou
Alison Jones was Lecturer in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London 2008 - 2023 where she met Maria Toumazou, then a student. They talked a lot about the methodology, politics and humour of the artist Martha Rosler. Whilst their practices appear entirely dissimilar, they share an obtuse gaze with the intention of noticing and highlighting "nefarious ideological operations" behind everyday visual culture.
Alison Jones and Maria Toumazou will be collaborating on an open-ended project, which will develop during the time Alison is in residence at Cynefin Athens.
Image:
Alison Jones. 'Leon Golub, I’m a Fan’, 2025, oil on canvas
240 x 150 cm
photo credit is Benjamin Deakin
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Born near Blackpool, Lancashire, Alison Jones studied at the Slade and Goldsmiths, and currently lives and works in London. She has shown internationally, and her work is held in public collections including Bankers Trust, Goldsmiths, the Granada Foundation and UCL. Recent projects include Turning Pages: Artists Books of the Present, MAK, Vienna, Supastore Now!The Art of the Deal, London, Blusher, Leicester University Gallery, Magic Mirror, Hydra, The Look, Transition Gallery, London, Cubitt 30, at Victoria Miro Gallery, London and John Moores Painting Prize 2021.
Maria Toumazou is an artist and curator working in Nicosia, Cyprus. She completed her BA in Art Practice at Goldsmiths College and MFA at Glasgow School of Art. She is the co-founder of the publishing imprint MARIA†. Editions based in Nicosia and New York and a founding director of Neoterismoi Toumazou (Neo Toum), an artist-led space showcasing emerging local and international artists in Nicosia.
