Catenary (Jacob’s Ladder)

Mediums: еncaustic, canvas, rope, wood, metal.
Location: the collection of the artist.

In this painting, the artist combined oil painting with a few completed objects. The canvas is an unevenly painted surface on which the lower colour layer emerges from under the rough strokes of grey paint. On the sides of the picture, Jones attached two wooden slats, on which a simple white rope was hung at both ends, and slightly titled the plane of the canvas towards the viewer, thus, allowing the rope to sag freely without touching the surface. This simple visual image evokes associations with hanging bridges joining two shores, or else symbolizes a person’s path from earth to heaven; this is logically connected with the name of the painting, because, according to the biblical parable, Jacob invented a staircase connecting heaven to earth.