When one first encounters a piece by Poppy Jones, the eyes play tricks. Her spare still lifes, encoded with the lexicon of alluring yet austere British Modernism, allow us to assume that every line and shadow is the work of celluloid film, or perhaps even glass-plate negatives.
This could not be further from the truth. The Eastbourne-based artist creates these scenes using images taken on her iPhone, a practice she began while in lockdown at her parents’ home with her newborn son. ‘I was taking photos of the baby and became aware of the incredible light they have in their 1930s house,’ she says, ‘I just had to capture it.’ What began as family snaps soon evolved into more considered compositions that blur a sense of mid-century domesticity with the trappings of our contemporary world, their diminutive scale evoking the pocket-sized screens on which they started life.
The work has clearly struck a chord. Since 2021, Jones has exhibited in London, Zurich and LA, and was most recently tapped by Louise Trotter to create Bottega Veneta’s autumn/winter 2026 invitations, her artwork for which prints the brand’s ‘Intrecciato’ shirt on red suede. This month, as part of the artist’s first solo institutional show, Towner Eastbourne plays host to several of her new pieces, alongside works made in the past three years. Within them, vases of tulips, lamps and lemons are all rendered as ethereal objects articulated by dramatic over-exposure or else shrouded in semi-darkness.
For Jones, this blur is both a tactile and conceptual consideration. She does not print her images on paper but rather suede or silk – the kind that can be found among piles of clothes at a charity shop. The allure of these textiles comes from their softness and rich tones of orange, tan, turquoise and red, as well as their ability to soak up oil and water-based pigment, and she often applies the latter with a brush to finesse her final composition. Plus, though they become ambiguous when reborn as background, the fact that these fabrics are second-hand means they each hold the memory of a moment in time – much like the photographs they’re printed with. For this reason, Jones’s material is fundamental to the finished work. ‘I tend to respond to the fabric as a starting point for the image,’ she says. ‘I build everything from there, which is probably quite different to how someone approaches a work on canvas.’
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Jones’s process-driven practice is informed by her experience as a printer. She studied printmaking at the Royal College of Art before working in the studios at Falmouth University and West Dean College, embedding herself in the alchemical world of lithography, where marks are etched into hulking pieces of limestone, inked and rolled through a press. It’s a messy business, involving considerable physical labour and corrosive substances that can cause lasting health problems. So when Jones was pregnant, she began experimenting with far safer polyester plates, and soon found that this method bridged photography, textiles and monoprinting (which involves, painting directly on to a plate to create a unique impression).
This rare mélange has allowed Jones to develop more complex palettes, in which delicate hues blend with the plushness of her materials. Tactile imprints, from thumb marks to colour bleeds recalling the ‘errors’ that appear when a printing plate is misaligned, are a hallmark of her work.
Alongside the Towner exhibition, Jones will soon feature in a group show at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, dedicated to works depicting flowers from 1900 to the present. Though she generally works to scale, the artist is now also experimenting with larger pieces, which she hopes will allow her to explore new subject matter, including architecture and design. As ever, they will be stretched on to the custom aluminium frames that she has long favoured. ‘I never want there to be glass in the way; it feels too precious,’ she says. ‘There shouldn’t be anything between the surface and the viewer’
‘Poppy Jones: Frozen Sun’ runs at Towner Eastbourne, Devonshire Park, 82 College Rd, Eastbourne BN21 4JJ, until 31 May. For opening times, ring 01323 434670, or visit townereastbourne.org.uk
A version of this article appears in the May 2026 issue of ‘The World of Interiors’. Learn about our subscription offers
