Jonathan Michael Ray

Excited to be heading off to Berlin this week, to install a few pieces and attend the opening of ‘Family Crinkles’ @lobeblock . Come along and say hi on Thursday 7th May at 6-10pm, or pass the message along to Berlin-based friends. Vielen Dank 😊

@jonathanmichaelray Under Raking Light, 2022, Glass, lead, oak and steel, 87.5 x 125 x 2.5cm #jonathanmichaelray 𝘼 𝙍𝙤𝙤𝙢 𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 21st – 26th of April 2026 90 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1HJ Tues - Sat, 12 - 6 Sun, 11 - 2 Please email [email protected] or dm to enquire about any of the works in the exhibition 🤍 Documentation by @jacobsirkin 𓅪

New artist zine available now! 📣 Storm Stones is a 20-page booklet, with a specially commissioned text by @annasouter , examining a series of engraved stone works inspired by my daughter, Arden, and explorations of Orkney while on residency in 2023. The booklet features full colour images of all the works in the series, handmade into a bespoke artist zine with GF Smith seaweed paper covers, dark pink sugar paper inserts, all printed by Matt Martin @toner.pz . 💫 Signed and limited to 60 copies. £10 plus p&p. DM me if you’d like a copy ✉️ … Special thanks to @lywardian for his assistance with the design layout, and @christopherpgreen for lending me his pro-level guillotine and stapler ❤️ 🙏🏻

‘A Room That Remembers You Back’ is opening next week on Tuesday 21st April, 6 - 8pm - All welcome. I’ll be there 😊 Can’t wait to see it! … A Room That Remembers You Back Warbling @warblingcollective 90 Chalton Street, London, NW1 1HJ 21st - 26th April 2026 A room that holds traces of the lives that have shaped it, with objects whispering stories of passing lives and memories. Our chosen artefacts remember their past, ask us to pause and connect with the silent history they carry. As time passes, they reorient themselves, and their sentiment changes with new hands. Becoming a different souvenir for each person who holds it, still, an emotional weight is held here. These entities store memories within their forms like air, dust and light, though it is not the object itself but the lives that have moved through it, the hands that have chosen it. The edges soften as they come to be a part of a person, and through life, we carry fragments of a room, remembered by places as much as we remember them back. Polam Chan @polamchan , Maria Vittoria Faldini @mariavfaldini , Cindy Liu @cinque.made , Holly Marsden @holllymarsden , Seraphina Mutscheller @seraphinamutscheller , Cordelia Ostler @cordelia.o , Evgeniya Pankratova @geniya_art , Jonathan Michael Ray, Anna Reutinger @anreut , Anouska Samms @anouskasamms , Sofia Serpa Arango @sofia.serpa.arango , Jacob Sirkin @jacobsirkin , Matthias Jun Wilhelm @matthiasjunwilhelm , Matthew Wilson @matthewwilsonartist . Artwork detail: Under Raking Light, 2022, Glass, lead, oak and steel, 87.5 x 125 x 2.5 cm

‘Ancient Modern’ @brookebenington with @gertrude__art closes this weekend, so you have just a couple more days to catch this beautiful show. ‘Four artists breathe new life into old magic. Ancient Modern brings together the work of Carl Anderson, Emma Black, Jonathan Michael Ray and James Dearlove, artists who draw from deep historical imagery while remaining firmly rooted in the present. Armour, puppetry, stained glass and ritual gesture appear throughout the exhibition not as nostalgic relics, but as living languages that continue to evolve. Each artist looks backwards in order to understand how symbols of protection, devotion, labour and transformation still resonate within contemporary experience.’ Ancient Modern Brooke Benington x Gertrude Feb 28 - Mar 21 2026 Thursday - Saturday 12 - 5pm Brooke Benington 76 Cleveland St W1T 6NB @eblack.emma @carl_j_anderson @jamesdearlove_art

Last few days to see 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙀𝙎 @ohshprojects This is my work ‘Memorandum’, it lays amidst an amazing selection of paintings and sculptures by 14 other artists (see below and scroll through). So, if you’re in London this weekend go and see it before it closes! 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙀𝙎 Feb 28 - Mar 21 Open Thurs - Sat Thames-Side Studios Gallery Woolwich London SE18 5NR This group exhibition will explore the emergence of human mark-making through abstract art, considering visual language as an unbroken thread linking contemporary artists to ancient traditions of creating symbols. Bijanka Bacic @bijanka_bacic Basil Beattie RA @basilbeattiestudio Magda Blasinska @magda.blasinska Alice Browne @alicerbrowne Jo Dennis @jodennis__ Howard Dyke @howarddyke Gus Farnes @gusfarnes Guy Haddon Grant @haddongrant Albert Irvin RA @albertirvinestate John Hoyland RA @johnhoylandra Jonathan Kelly @jonathankelly_ Arthur Lanyon @arthur.lanyon Pia Ortuno @piaortuno Jonathan Michael Ray @jonathanmichaelray Kes Richardson @kesrichardson

In a secular world, where does the sacred go? Jonathan Michael Ray has an answer. Last week to see Ancient Modern currently on @brookebenington Collection available on Gertrude — link in bio.

Positioned on the floor in front of Hoyland’s painting is Jonathan Michael Ray’s ‘Memorandum’ (2025), a slate slab incised with enamel inscriptions. The carved writing was produced by Ray’s children, introducing a literal record of mark-making that connects drawing, language and inheritance. Ray, who lives and works in Cornwall, frequently begins with materials themselves, selecting stone, glass or found objects for their capacity to hold traces of time. His works often contain what he describes as multiple layers of reference, allowing geological history, personal narrative and symbolic language to coexist. ‘Memorandum’ (2025) by Jonathan Michael Ray Enamel paint and slate 175 x 65 cm —— RUNES examines mark-making as a fundamental aspect of human culture. Before written language humans used marks and symbols to communicate, record and interpret their experiences. The exhibition situates abstraction within this broad history, connecting early symbolic practices with those of contemporary artists and presenting visual language as something that develops across generations rather than belonging to any single moment. —— 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙀𝙎 27 FEBRUARY - 21 MARCH 2026 OPEN THURSDAY-SUNDAY, 12PM-5PM THAMES-SIDE STUDIOS GALLERY WOOLWICH, LONDON, SE18 5NR

Open today 12-6 pm — Gertrude x Brooke Benington Ancient Modern — Image: Jonathan Michael Ray The astrologer’s misfortune, 2023 Stained glass fragments and lead 55.9 x 42.2 cm Unique — #brookebenington #ancientmodern

‘Ancient Modern’ @brookebenington in partnership with @gertrude__art continues today 12-6pm and until March 21. It’s such a beautiful show, stop by if you’re in the neighbourhood 🙏🏻 Gertrude × Brooke Benington Ancient Modern Public Opening: Thursday 26 February, 6-8pm Brooke Benington 76 Cleveland St W1T 6NB Four artists breathe new life into old magic. Ancient Modern brings together the work of Carl Anderson, Emma Black, Jonathan Michael Ray and James Dearlove, artists who draw from deep historical imagery while remaining firmly rooted in the present. Armour, puppetry, stained glass and ritual gesture appear throughout the exhibition not as nostalgic relics, but as living languages that continue to evolve. Each artist looks backwards in order to understand how symbols of protection, devotion, labour and transformation still resonate within contemporary experience. @gertrude__art @eblack.emma @carl_j_anderson @jamesdearlove_art

NOW OPEN: 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙀𝙎 RUNES examines mark-making as a fundamental aspect of human culture. Before written language humans used marks and symbols to communicate, record and interpret their experiences. The exhibition situates abstraction within this broad history, connecting early symbolic practices with those of contemporary artists and presenting visual language as something that develops across generations rather than belonging to any single moment. Seen together, the works do not present a single narrative of abstraction. Instead, they demonstrate how abstraction operates as a shared condition across artists born between 1922 and 2002. Marks recur not because artists imitate one another, but because the impulse to record our experience persists. A drawn line, a carved incision or a painted stroke can function simultaneously as gesture, record and proposition. Bijanka Bacic @bijanka_bacic Basil Beattie RA @basilbeattiestudio Magda Blasinska @magda.blasinska Alice Browne @alicerbrowne Jo Dennis @jodennis__ Howard Dyke @howarddyke Gus Farnes @gusfarnes Guy Haddon Grant @haddongrant Albert Irvin RA @albertirvinestate John Hoyland RA @johnhoylandra Harry Kincade @harry.kincade Arthur Lanyon @arthur.lanyon Paul Moriarty @paulmoriartylondon Pia Ortuno @piaortuno Jonathan Michael Ray @jonathanmichaelray Kes Richardson @kesrichardson Photography by @bjdeakin_photography —— 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙀𝙎 27 FEBRUARY - 21 MARCH 2026 OPEN THURSDAY-SUNDAY, 12PM-5PM THAMES-SIDE STUDIOS GALLERY WOOLWICH, LONDON, SE18 5NR

Opening this week @ohshprojects . It’s a big line-up in a big space, and I’m showing a big new work! 💪🏻 let’s go! 𝙍𝙐𝙉𝙀𝙎 Opening: Friday 27 February, 5–9pm Thames-Side Studios Gallery Woolwich London SE18 5NR This group exhibition will explore the emergence of human mark-making through abstract art, considering visual language as an unbroken thread linking contemporary artists to ancient traditions of creating symbols. Bijanka Bacic @bijanka_bacic Basil Beattie RA @basilbeattiestudio Magda Blasinska @magda.blasinska Alice Browne @alicerbrowne Jo Dennis @jodennis__ Howard Dyke @howarddyke Gus Farnes @gusfarnes Guy Haddon Grant @haddongrant Albert Irvin RA @albertirvinestate John Hoyland RA @johnhoylandra Jonathan Kelly @jonathankelly_ Arthur Lanyon @arthur.lanyon Pia Ortuno @piaortuno Jonathan Michael Ray @jonathanmichaelray Kes Richardson @kesrichardson