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 Each project begins with a process of discovery — gathering a constellation of historical references, stories, ideas, and mysteries embedded within artefacts, materials, and places.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.

Biography:
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.

Ray is represented by Bo Lee and Workman in Somerset, and has had two solo shows with the gallery. Other 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.

Gallery representation by Bo Lee Gallery
Work also available on Artsy and Gertrude
Instagram: @jonathanmichaelray

Texts:
In the field: Uncovering the work of Jonathan Michael Ray by Dr Matt Rettalick, 2025
The Idle Cloth by Elaine Tam, 2022

Interviews and articles:
Ruling Glass by Holly Black in World of Interiors
The Voice in the Shadow review by Ina Cole in Sculpture Magazine
Ancestral Voices by Martin Holman in Drift Cornwall
What Lies Beneath by Jonathan Michael Ray in TATE ETC. Issue 55
Sensing the Palimpsest of Memory by Janice Li on DATEAGLE
Friend of the Artist Vol. 10, Interview by Tim Ralston
Floorr Magazine Vol.16, Interview by Brooke Hailey Hoffert

CV

Education:
2014-2016: MFA Fine Art Media, Slade School of Art, University College London
2004-2007: BA Hons Fine Art, Nottingham Trent University
2003-2004: Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Bucks Chilterns University College

Exhibitions:
2025:
Trim Here, Score Here, Fold Here, Hweg Gallery, UK
Field Work, Bo Lee and Workman, UK
Living Stones, Porthmeor Studios, UK

2024:
This Country, curated by Forest+Found for London Craft Week, Crafts Council Gallery, London, UK
Become an object, Tremenheere Gallery, UK (also curated)
A Skin Made Porous, Anima Mundi Gallery, UK
Ud Rocashaas, Hweg Gallery, UK (also curated)

2023:
Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix Gallery, UK
The Word at Roche, Stone Carving and Wall Hangings, NewArtCentre, UK
Sennen Summer Fayre, The Fayre, Sennen, UK
The Voice in the Shadow, Bo Lee and Workman, UK (solo)

2022:
This is Not a Curated Exhibition III, Galleria Ramo, Como, Italy
Long Way Home, Anima Mundi, UK (solo)
Motorhead under Kenidjack, World Service, UK
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Jonathan Michael Ray, TATE ST IVES, St Ives, UK (also curated)
FLOCK, Bo Lee and Workman, Bruton, UK

2021:
A Very Generous Space, Hastings Contemporary, Hastings, UK
Gathering, Haarlem Artspace, Wirksworth, UK (also curated)
Mono No Aware, Auction House, Redruth, UK (solo)
The Artists’ Oracle, White Crypt Gallery, London, UK
Dreamlands part 1, OHSH, London, UK
Meet me at the cemetery gates, Art of Grief, Penzance, UK (solo)
National Sculpture Prize 2021 Finalists, Broomhill Estate, Devon, UK
Gathering, Grays Wharf, Penryn, UK (also curated)

2020:
InRoads, Galleria Ramo, Como, Italy
3.1, bo.lee gallery, London, UK

2019:
Unbounded, Eden Project, Bodelva, UK
Bury Me With It, Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn, UK (solo)
The Cave and the Sky, Thirdbase, Lisbon, Portugal (also curated)
Moor Way Bones, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives, UK (also curated)
New Media Art, CICA Museum, Seoul, South Korea

2018:
“There is nothing whatever do not look like what it was since I can remember”, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives, UK (solo)
Surfaces, Loosen Art, Rome, Italy
It sounds like it weighs a ton, Garden Walk, London, UK

2017:
Material Light, Kochi Biennial, India
Beneath and Between, White Crypt Gallery, London, UK (with Richard Müller)

2016:
Clifford Chance Postgraduate Printmaking Exhibition, Clifford Chance, London, UK
Floating Worlds, Safehouse1, London, UK (also curated)
A Cave With A View, Charlton Gallery, London, UK
Making Do, Slade School of Fine Art UCL, UK

2015:
Imagine, Londonewcastle Arts Program, London, UK

2013:
Le Studio Show, Galerie Bifurski, Montréal, Canada (solo)

Commissions:
2025/26: Ouroboros, The Town Hall Trowbridge, Trowbridge, UK

2023: Lith, Tremenheere Sculpture Gardens, Cornwall, UK
2022: Crucible, London School of Economics, London, UK in partnership with ARTIQ

Artist Residencies and Awards:
2023: From One To Another, Cornwall x Scotland Exchange Residency, Linkshouse, Orkney, UK supported by Visual Art Scotland, Wilhelmina Barnes Graham Trust and Pier Arts Centre, Orkney
2021: National Sculpture Prize Finalist, Broomhill Estate, Devon, UK
2021: Master Class 2021, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
2019: Hogchester Arts Residency Programme, Charmouth, UK
2019: Thirdbase Studio Residency, Lisbon, Portugal
2018-19: Porthmeor Studios Graduate Award supported by European Regional Development Fund via Cultivator Cornwall, UK
2016: Hong Kong Baptist University Artist in Residence, HKBU AVA Kaitak, Hong Kong
2016: Slade Summer School Artist in Residence, Slade School of Fine Art UCL, UK